Table 2 Agent procedures

Initialization (initial set up of model parameters)

Create agents (nurses, educators, managers)

Set unearned authority

Set prior belief

Set earned authority

Set motives

Set visibility

Set credibility

To go (start sequence of events)

Announce evidence (one of agents is an announcer)

Agents get evidence

Agents assess evidence

Agents assess evidence announcer credibility

Agents decide to:

Revise prior beliefs based on evidence

Ignore evidence and keep beliefs the same

Seek advice (if available, create links)

Revise assessments based on advice

Revise prior beliefs or ignore advice and keep beliefs the same

Tick (discrete time step, ends sequence of events)

To go continuous (repeat sequence of events with initial conditions based on outcome of previous tick)

Disconnect links

Replace previous prior beliefs with revised beliefs

Reset visibility (based on new prior beliefs)

Reset credibility (based on new visibility)

Announce evidence etc.