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This is the first of two parts of a paper in which we shall develop microeconomic price models of monopolistic competition using methods and tools of feedback theory. The models discussed are based on an approach presented by Billstroem and Thore in 1964. In the second part we will develop a different approach which can better deal with real problems. All feedback models will be simulated by means of the simulation language CSMP/360 III.

In the previous issue of this Journal, the authors described, analysed and enlarged a micro‐economic model by Billstroem and Thore. In this part they present their own simulation model. The model is a three loop system of price‐, advertising‐, production‐, and stock‐policy. Main differences compared with the Billstroem/Thore‐approach are: The model includes interactions between the different business policies mentioned. Both control‐variables and exogenous disturbance‐variables have been included. Each of three subsystems is controlled by a regulator and feed‐forward control unit. Therefore the model of Billstroem/Thore can be called a feedback approach, while the model to be introduced is a feedback‐feed‐forward system with disturbance.

The objectives of the proposed model are: aiding nursing staff in documentation tasks, which can be onerous and stressful; and helping management by offering an estimate of the nursing workload, which can be considered for administrative purposes, such as staff scheduling.

An exploratory-descriptive study was conducted in order to identify, investigate, and describe the problem of documenting nursing activities and workload estimation in an intensive care unit. Technological solutions were explored, and models were proposed to address these issues.

Cross-dataset experiments were performed, and the model was able to offer an adequate estimate of the nursing workload. The results suggest that continuous retraining is essential for maintaining high accuracy. While the proposed model was considered in the context of an adult ICU, it can be adapted to other contexts, such as elderly care.

While the proposed solution seems promising, further research is required, such as deploying this system in an ICU and facing challenges in the areas of computer security, medical ethics, and patient data privacy. More patients’ variables could also be collected to improve the workload estimates.

Nursing workload assessment is critical to improve the cost-benefit ratio in health care, offer high-quality patient care, and reduce unnecessary expenses, and this process is usually manual. An automated device can automatically document the amount of time spent in patient care activities in a more transparent, efficient, and accurate manner, freeing staff for more urgent activities and keeping management better informed about day-to-day nursing operations.