567 / 2024-04-25 22:45:09

One Call, Two Responders: A Robust Ambulance Dispatch Policy

robust,ambulance,dispatch,policy

In this work, We propose a new robust ambulance dispatch policy. We conjecture that when an emergency call arrives, instead of dispatching one ambulance as the current practice does in almost every country, sending two ambulances from different stations to hedge against traffic variability (dual dispatch) can significantly reduce the lead time and thus improve the rescue success rate. The additional cost incurred is only a few minutes of driving a backup ambulance. We validate our idea through rigorous mathematical derivation and simulation studies based on the record of more than 26,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrest cases in Hong Kong. Our computation shows that ambulance dual dispatch can reduce the lead time by as much as 30%. The advantage of the dual dispatch system naturally comes from the alternative dispatching sites (or alternative vehicle routes) that are strategically chosen based on the urban structures and traffic conditions, and our paper shares insights on these optimization problems.