Dictionary
The Dictionary provides concise definitions of health economics terms, arranged alphabetically for quick reference. Use it to understand unfamiliar terminology or confirm the meaning of a specific term.
A
- Arrival ProcessInput Process, Entity Arrivals
- The pattern by which entities, such as patients, enter a discrete event simulation over time, governed by a probability distribution of intervals.
- Attribute DefinitionEntity Attribute, DES Attribute
- The specification of the characteristics assigned to each entity within a discrete event simulation, such as a patient's age or diagnosis.
D
- Departure ProcessExit Process, Simulation Exit
- The pattern by which entities, such as patients, leave a discrete event simulation after completing the services or processes being modelled.
- Discrete Event SimulationDES, Event-Driven Simulation
- Discrete event simulation, or DES, represents a system as a sequence of events that occur at particular points in simulated time.
E
- Entity DefinitionDES Entity Specification, Entity Specification
- The specification of the individual units, such as patients, that flow through and interact with a discrete event simulation.
P
- Patient Flow ModelFlow Simulation Model, DES Patient-Flow Model
- A discrete event simulation or related model representing how patients move through a healthcare facility, capturing waiting times and resource bottlenecks.
R
- Resource DefinitionResource Specification, Resource Categorisation
- The specification within a discrete event simulation of the limited assets, such as staff or beds, that entities need to be processed.
W
- Warm-Up PeriodBurn-In Period, Initialisation Bias Period
- An initial portion of a discrete event simulation run excluded from results, letting the system reach a representative state before data collection begins.