The Economics of Overlapping Surgeries
成果类型：
Article
署名作者：
Freeman, Nickolas; Zhao, Ming; Melouk, Sharif; Mittenthal, John
署名单位：
University of Alabama System; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa; University of Houston System; University of Houston
刊物名称：
PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
ISSN/ISSBN：
1059-1478
DOI：
10.1111/poms.13070
发表日期：
2019
页码：
2629-2652
关键词：
摘要：
We study the widespread practice of assigning a single surgeon to two operating rooms (ORs), which is known as overlapping surgery. We first describe the fundamental trade-offs that motivate hospitals to employ the practice. Then, we conduct a mathematical analysis for the completion of a set of elective operations under an overlapping surgery policy and a more traditional, serial scheduling policy. We use this analysis, along with a cost function that considers surgeon idle time and total OR time, to derive two models for predicting environments where overlapping surgery is preferable. We use insights from our modeling efforts to provide objective evidence that supports or opposes claims made in the medical trade literature regarding the use of overlapping surgery. In particular, we show that contrary to claims in the medical trade literature, overlapping surgery does not allow a hospital to increase total surgical volume. Finally, we show that hospitals interested in employing overlapping surgery are best served by focusing efforts aimed at reducing time requirement uncertainty on turnover times instead of procedure times.