A Scenario-Based Approach for Operating Theater Scheduling Under Uncertainty

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Freeman, Nickolas K.; Melouk, Sharif H.; Mittenthal, John
• 署名单位: University of Houston System; University of Houston; University of Alabama System; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
• 刊物名称: M&SOM-MANUFACTURING & SERVICE OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1523-4614
• DOI: 10.1287/msom.2015.0557
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 245-261
• 关键词: healthcare management; math programming

摘要

Elective operation scheduling significantly affects the financial health of a hospital and additional metrics important to stakeholders in an operating theater (OT) environment. In this research, we develop a novel scheduling formulation that explicitly considers the uncertainty in elective operation durations and also plans for potential randomly arriving urgent demands. Using a scenario-based modeling approach, the objective of this formulation is to maximize the expected profit associated with the OT schedule. Since the complexity of the problem is NP-hard, we develop a two-step, heuristic solution approach that allows us to solve practical sized instances in reasonable time. Experimentation shows that incorporating uncertainty via scenarios increases profit and OT utilization when compared to deterministic scheduling methods. Moreover, explicitly considering urgent arrivals results in a significant reduction in the time that patients of this type wait to receive service, with little impact on other key metrics.