{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,25]],"date-time":"2026-01-25T14:13:27Z","timestamp":1769350407510,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,2]],"date-time":"2020-08-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1596326400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,2]],"date-time":"2020-08-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1596326400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J Med Syst"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:p>Agent-based approaches have been known to be appropriate as systems and methods in medical administration in recent years. The increased attention to processes led to the recent growth of Business Process Management discipline, which quite exclusively adopt discrete-event modeling and simulation. This paper proposes a medical agent-oriented decision support system to integrate the achievements from management science, agent-based modeling, and artificial intelligence. In particular, we performed a practical application concerning a hospital emergency department medical system. We adopt the widely used multi-agent programmable modeling environment NetLogo. First, we demonstrated the ability to perform a clear representation of healthcare processes where agents (i.e., patients and hospital staff) operate in a 3D environment. This model allows performing a traditional <jats:italic>what-if<\/jats:italic> scenario analysis. Second, we explore how performing intelligent management of patients by applying genetic algorithms to find the criteria for the selection process of the subjects in the admission procedure. The results are encouraging towards a more extensive application of agent-oriented methodologies in healthcare management.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s10916-020-01608-4","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,2]],"date-time":"2020-08-02T02:02:36Z","timestamp":1596333756000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":28,"title":["Agent-oriented Decision Support System for Business Processes Management with Genetic Algorithm Optimization: an Application in Healthcare"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"44","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1746-3733","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Emilio","family":"Sulis","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Pietro","family":"Terna","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Antonio","family":"Di Leva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Guido","family":"Boella","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Adriana","family":"Boccuzzi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"1608_CR1","unstructured":"Van der Aalst W.: Process mining and simulation: a match made in heaven!.. In: Proceedings of the 50th Computer Simulation Conference, SummerSim \u201918. Society for Computer Simulation International, San Diego, 2018, pp 4:1\u20134:12"},{"issue":"4","key":"1608_CR2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"93","DOI":"10.1007\/s10916-016-0449-x","volume":"40","author":"PH Abreu","year":"2016","unstructured":"Abreu P.H., Silva D.C., Schumacher M.I., Reis L.P., Faria B.M., Ito M.: Special issue joms\u2013journal of medical systems, 2016 on agent-empowered healthcare systems. Journal of Medical Systems 40 (4): 93, 2016","journal-title":"Journal of Medical Systems"},{"key":"1608_CR3","unstructured":"Allweyer T. (2016) BPMN 2.0: Introduction to the standard for business process modeling. BoD\u2013Books on Demand"},{"issue":"5","key":"1608_CR4","first-page":"1","volume":"2","author":"J Barjis","year":"2011","unstructured":"Barjis J.: Healthcare simulation and its potential areas and future trends. SCS M&S Magazine 2 (5): 1\u20136, 2011","journal-title":"SCS M&S Magazine"},{"issue":"suppl 3","key":"1608_CR5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"7280","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.082080899","volume":"99","author":"E Bonabeau","year":"2002","unstructured":"Bonabeau E.: Agent-based modeling: Methods and techniques for simulating human systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 99 (suppl 3): 7280\u20137287, 2002","journal-title":"Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences"},{"key":"1608_CR6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-662-56509-4","volume-title":"Fundamentals of Business Process Management","author":"M Dumas","year":"2018","unstructured":"Dumas M., La Rosa M., Mendling J., Reijers H.: Fundamentals of Business Process Management, vol 1, 2nd edition. Berlin: Springer, 2018"},{"issue":"2","key":"1608_CR7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"262","DOI":"10.1057\/palgrave.jors.2602222","volume":"58","author":"T Eldabi","year":"2007","unstructured":"Eldabi T., Paul R.J., Young T.: Simulation modelling in healthcare: reviewing legacies and investigating futures. Journal of the Operational Research Society 58 (2): 262\u2013270, 2007. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1057\/palgrave.jors.2602222","journal-title":"Journal of the Operational Research Society"},{"key":"1608_CR8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"227","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2014.2313957","volume":"2","author":"MR Friesen","year":"2014","unstructured":"Friesen M.R., McLeod R.D.: A survey of agent-based modeling of hospital environments. IEEE Access 2: 227\u2013233, 2014","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"1608_CR9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"G\u00f3mez-Cruz N.A., Saa I.L., Hurtado F.F.O. (2017) Agent-based simulation in management and organizational studies: a survey. European Journal of Management and Business Economics","DOI":"10.1108\/EJMBE-10-2017-018"},{"issue":"23","key":"1608_CR10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2760","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecolmodel.2010.08.019","volume":"221","author":"V Grimm","year":"2010","unstructured":"Grimm V., Berger U., DeAngelis D.L., Polhill J.G., Giske J., Railsback S.F.: The odd protocol: a review and first update. Ecological Modelling 221 (23): 2760\u20132768, 2010","journal-title":"Ecological Modelling"},{"key":"1608_CR11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Holland J.H. (2012) Signals and boundaries: Building blocks for complex adaptive systems. Mit Press","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/9412.001.0001"},{"issue":"2","key":"1608_CR12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"43","DOI":"10.1007\/s10916-015-0376-2","volume":"40","author":"D Isern","year":"2016","unstructured":"Isern D., Moreno A.: A systematic literature review of agents applied in healthcare. Journal of Medical Systems 40 (2): 43, 2016","journal-title":"Journal of Medical Systems"},{"key":"1608_CR13","unstructured":"Jones S.S., Evans R.S.: An agent based simulation tool for scheduling emergency department physicians.. In: AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings, vol 2008. American Medical Informatics Association, 2008, p 338"},{"key":"1608_CR14","unstructured":"Montagna S., Abreu P.H., Giroux S., Schumacher M.I. (2017) Agents and Multi-Agent Systems for Health Care: 10th International Workshop, a2HC 2017, s\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil, May 8, 2017, and International Workshop, a-HEALTH 2017, Porto, Portugal, June 21, 2017, Revised and Extended Selected Papers, vol. 10685 Springer"},{"key":"1608_CR15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"142","DOI":"10.1016\/j.artmed.2019.02.007","volume":"96","author":"S Montagna","year":"2019","unstructured":"Montagna S., Silva D.C., Abreu P.H., Ito M., Schumacher M.I., Vargiu E.: Autonomous agents and multi-agent systems applied in healthcare. Artificial Intelligence in Medicine 96: 142\u2013144, 2019. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.artmed.2019.02.007. http:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0933365719301319","journal-title":"Artificial Intelligence in Medicine"},{"key":"1608_CR16","unstructured":"North M.J., Macal C.M. (2007) Managing business complexity: discovering strategic solutions with agent-based modeling and simulation. Oxford University Press"},{"issue":"1","key":"1608_CR17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1057\/jos.2013.4","volume":"8","author":"MJ North","year":"2014","unstructured":"North M.J., Macal C.M.: Product and process patterns for agent-based modelling and simulation. Journal of Simulation 8 (1): 25\u201336, 2014","journal-title":"Journal of Simulation"},{"key":"1608_CR18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"417","DOI":"10.1023\/A:1022828414460","volume":"21","author":"V Podgorelec","year":"1997","unstructured":"Podgorelec V., Kokol P.: Genetic algorithm based system for patient scheduling in highly constrained situations. Journal of Medical Systems 21: 417\u2013427, 1997","journal-title":"Journal of Medical Systems"},{"key":"1608_CR19","unstructured":"Railsback S.F., Grimm V. (2019) Agent-based and individual-based modeling: a practical introduction. Princeton University Press"},{"key":"1608_CR20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Shoham Y., Leyton-Brown K. (2008) Multiagent systems: algorithmic, game-theoretic, and logical foundations. Cambridge University Press","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511811654"},{"key":"1608_CR21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sulis E., Di Leva A.: An agent-based model of a business process: The use case of a hospital emergency department.. In: Business Process Management Workshops, Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 308, 2017, pp 124\u2013132. Springer","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-74030-0_8"},{"key":"1608_CR22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"641","DOI":"10.1016\/j.procs.2013.05.228","volume":"18","author":"M Taboada","year":"2013","unstructured":"Taboada M., Cabrera E., Epelde F., Iglesias M.L., Luque E.: Using an agent-based simulation for predicting the effects of patients derivation policies in emergency departments. Procedia Computer Science 18: 641\u2013650, 2013. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.procs.2013.05.228. 2013 International Conference on Computational Science","journal-title":"Procedia Computer Science"},{"key":"1608_CR23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Van Der Aalst W.M. (2013) Business process management: a comprehensive survey. ISRN Software Engineering 2013","DOI":"10.1155\/2013\/507984"},{"key":"1608_CR24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"356","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cie.2019.03.025","volume":"131","author":"L Vanbrabant","year":"2019","unstructured":"Vanbrabant L., Braekers K., Ramaekers K., Nieuwenhuyse I.V.: Simulation of emergency department operations: A comprehensive review of kpis and operational improvements. Comput. Ind. Eng. 131: 356\u2013381, 2019. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.cie.2019.03.025","journal-title":"Comput. Ind. Eng."},{"key":"1608_CR25","unstructured":"Wilensky U., Rand W. (2015) An introduction to agent-based modeling: modeling natural, social, and engineered complex systems with NetLogo. MIT Press"}],"container-title":["Journal of Medical Systems"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s10916-020-01608-4.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s10916-020-01608-4\/fulltext.html","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s10916-020-01608-4.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,1]],"date-time":"2021-08-01T23:29:14Z","timestamp":1627860554000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/10.1007\/s10916-020-01608-4"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,2]]},"references-count":25,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,9]]}},"alternative-id":["1608"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10916-020-01608-4","relation":{},"ISSN":["0148-5598","1573-689X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0148-5598","type":"print"},{"value":"1573-689X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,2]]},"assertion":[{"value":"18 May 2020","order":1,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"15 July 2020","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"2 August 2020","order":3,"name":"first_online","label":"First Online","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"order":1,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Compliance with Ethical Standards"}},{"value":"The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"<!--Emphasis Type='Bold' removed-->Conflict of interests"}}],"article-number":"157"}}