Improving resource utilization for diagnostic services through flexible inpatient scheduling: A method for improving resource utilization

Authors: Patrick, J; Puterman, M L

Source: Journal of the Operational Research Society, Volume 58, Number 2, 6 February 2007 , pp. 235-245(11)

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Abstract:

We present a method to increase the utilization of and reduce the waiting times for an under-capacitated diagnostic resource in the presence of uncertain demand with several priority levels. We consider the case of a computed tomography (CT) scanning department that services both high-priority in-patients and lower priority outpatients. Current practice calls for all in-patient demand to be met on the day of the request. Our proposal looks at the benefit of reserving space for carrying over a percentage of non-emergency in-patient demand to the next day and utilizing a pool of on-call outpatients who can respond quickly to available capacity. We formulate and solve an optimization problem that returns a reservation policy that minimizes unused capacity subject to an overtime constraint. We use a simulation to demonstrate a significant reduction in the growth rate of outpatient waiting time resulting from using the proposed method and investigate the sensitivity of results to several model assumptions.Journal of the Operational Research Society (2007) 58, 235-245. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602242 Published online 5 July 2006

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602242

Affiliations: 1: 1University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Publication date: 2007-02-06