Modelling the contact propagation of nosocomial infection in emergency departments

Abstract

The nosocomial infection is a special kind of infection that is caused by microorganisms acquired inside a hospital. In the daily care process of an emergency department, the interactions between patients and sanitary staff create the environment for the transmission of such microorganisms. Rates of morbility and mortality due to nosocomial infections areimportant indicators of the quality of hospital work. In this research, we use Agent Based Modeling and Simulation techniques to build a model of Methicillinresistant Staphylococcus Aureus propagation based on an Emergency Department Simulator which has been tested and validated previously. The model obtained will allow us to build a contact propagation simulator that enables the construction of virtual environments with theaim of analyzing how the prevention policies affect the rate of propagation of nosocomial infection