Modeling population screening process for maximizing throughputs

Following a large-scale radiation emergency, affected populations will need to be screened soon after for potential contamination (external or internal). Effective management of the available resources can help maximize the screening throughputs. This paper reports the modeling results for screening throughputs in a population screening center using a set resource, considering two major variables, the arrival rate (number of people arriving at the screening center per minute) and the contamination probability (the probability of finding a contaminated group). Both the full process (including all sub-processes in a population screening center) and the core process (including only the screening sub-processes: pre-screening, portal monitoring, and whole body counting) were simulated. As expected, for both processes, as the arrival rate increases, the screening center can get overwhelmed. Interestingly, the contamination probability becomes a significant factor for screening throughputs only when the arrival rate becomes high. The results show that following an emergency, when the arrival rate is high, much more resources will need to be deployed to the population screening center or multiple screening centers will need to be established.