Abstract
Hospital operating theaters often face the problem of unscheduled emergency
arrivals that should be treated as soon as possible. In practice different
policies are used to allocate these emergency patients to the operating rooms. These policies are (1) keeping operating rooms empty and available for emergency arrivals; (2) treating emergency patients in elective operating rooms, postponing elective patients; and (3) a mix of these two policies. The use of a specific policy affects performance (e.g., utilization, waiting times, overtime). Currently, these effects are not clear, and there is no agreement on what works ‘best’ for a specific hospital.
Using discrete-event simulation, we evaluate the policies for many case characteristics such as hospital size, patient case mix, and fraction of (emergency) patients.
We gathered the simulation results in a tool called OR analyzer. This tool is made
available online and allows healthcare practitioners to gain insight into the effects of the scheduling policies in settings similar to their specific hospital setting. In addition, this tool allows others researching emergency scheduling policies to frame their hospital settings and compare results.
arrivals that should be treated as soon as possible. In practice different
policies are used to allocate these emergency patients to the operating rooms. These policies are (1) keeping operating rooms empty and available for emergency arrivals; (2) treating emergency patients in elective operating rooms, postponing elective patients; and (3) a mix of these two policies. The use of a specific policy affects performance (e.g., utilization, waiting times, overtime). Currently, these effects are not clear, and there is no agreement on what works ‘best’ for a specific hospital.
Using discrete-event simulation, we evaluate the policies for many case characteristics such as hospital size, patient case mix, and fraction of (emergency) patients.
We gathered the simulation results in a tool called OR analyzer. This tool is made
available online and allows healthcare practitioners to gain insight into the effects of the scheduling policies in settings similar to their specific hospital setting. In addition, this tool allows others researching emergency scheduling policies to frame their hospital settings and compare results.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Handbook of Healthcare Logistics |
| Subtitle of host publication | Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice |
| Publisher | Springer |
| Chapter | 7 |
| Pages | 111-128 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978-3-030-60212-3 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-3-030-60211-6 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 30 Mar 2021 |
Publication series
| Name | International Series in Operations Research & Management Science |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Springer |
| Volume | 302 |
| ISSN (Print) | 0884-8289 |
| ISSN (Electronic) | 2214-7934 |
Keywords
- Operations management
- Operations Research and Management Science (OR/MS)
- Operations research
- Healthcare planning