Privacy Policy
Dept SIM is an emergency-department simulator you run entirely in your browser. This page describes what information we handle, which is deliberately little.
What we collect
- Your email address, once. To open the demo or build
your own department we ask for an email, once per browser. We keep it,
with the date, your browser type and a one-way hash of your network
address (never the address itself), to know who uses Dept SIM, and a
cookie (
ds_v) so we do not ask again. We may write to you about Dept SIM; every such email can be unsubscribed from. Simulations still run on your device; scenarios you build are not sent to us unless you save them to an account. - If you create an account: your email address (and, if you sign in with Google, your name and profile picture as provided by Google), plus the SIMs you choose to save — including the settings you bring in through a model sheet (the three-column spreadsheet of department variables you can download, fill in and upload) and any floor plans you upload to your account. Accounts are optional — everything except saving, model sheets and account floor plans works without one.
- Basic traffic analytics via Cloudflare Web Analytics, which is cookie-free and does not track you across sites.
Department data you upload
A model sheet or a floor plan describes a department in aggregate — daily volumes, acuity mix, shifts, room counts, hours of operation, the outline of the unit. Sheet contents are stored as simulation settings inside the SIM you upload them into; the spreadsheet file itself is not kept. Floor plans are stored as private rows readable only by your account. We do not read this content except to help you when you ask for support, we do not use it for anything else, and it is deleted with your account. Nothing you upload is ever added to the public bundle.
What we never collect
Dept SIM contains no patient data. The bundled dataset is synthetic, derived from de-identified aggregate statistics. Your saved SIMs contain simulation settings and synthetic outputs only. We do not sell or share your information with anyone.
How your data is stored
Accounts and saved SIMs are stored with Supabase (our database provider) in the Americas region, protected so that only your account can read your SIMs. Sign-in emails are delivered by our email provider. Unsaved work stays in your browser's local storage.
Emails
We email you sign-in links when you request them. Beyond that, we may occasionally write about Dept SIM to the address you gave; each message carries an unsubscribe link. We never sell or share the list.
Your choices
You can delete any saved SIM or floor plan from within the app, and download any model's settings as a sheet at any time. To delete your account and everything in it, or the email you gave to open the simulator, email us and we'll remove it.
Contact
Dept SIM is part of understanding.healthcare. If this policy changes materially, the effective date above will change with it.