A decision support system for elective surgery scheduling under uncertain durations

Clavel, D. ; Mahulea, C. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Albareda, J. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Silva, M. (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Resumen: The operation room (OR) is one of the most expensive material resources in hospitals. Additionally, the demand for surgical service is increasing due to the aging population, while the number of surgical interventions performed is stagnated because of budget reasons. In this context, the importance of improving the efficiency of the surgical service is accentuated. The main objective of this work is to propose and to evaluate a Decision Support System (DSS) for helping medical staff in the automatic scheduling of elective patients, improving the efficiency of medical teams'' work. First, the scheduling criteria are fixed and then the scheduling problem of elective patients is approached by a mathematical programming model. A heuristic algorithm is proposed and included in the DSS. Moreover, other different features are implemented in a software tool with a friendly user interface, called CIPLAN. Considering realistic data, a simulation comparison of the scheduling obtained using the approach presented in this paper and other similar approaches in the bibliography is shown and analyzed. On the other hand, a case study considering real data provided by the Orthopedic Surgical Department (OSD) of the "Lozano Blesa" hospital in Zaragoza (HCU) is proposed. The simulation results show that the approach presented here obtains similar occupation rates and similar confidence levels of not exceeding the available time than approaches in the bibliography. However, from the point of view of respecting the order of the patients in the waiting list, the approach in this paper obtains scheduling much more ordered. In the case of the Orthopedic Surgical Department of the "Lozano Blesa" hospital in Zaragoza, the occupation rate may be increased by 2.83%, which represents a saving of 110, 000 euros per year. Moreover, medical doctors (who use this tool) consider CIPLAN as an intuitive, rapid and efficient software solution that can make easier the corresponding task.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.3390/app10061937

Año: 2020

Publicado en: APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL 10, 6 (2020), 1937 [21 pp]
ISSN: 2076-3417

Factor impacto JCR: 2.679 (2020)

Categ. JCR: PHYSICS, APPLIED rank: 73 / 160 = 0.456 (2020) - Q2 - T2
Categ. JCR: ENGINEERING, MULTIDISCIPLINARY rank: 38 / 91 = 0.418 (2020) - Q2 - T2
Categ. JCR: CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY rank: 101 / 178 = 0.567 (2020) - Q3 - T2
Categ. JCR: MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY rank: 201 / 333 = 0.604 (2020) - Q3 - T2

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 0.435 - Computer Science Applications (Q2) - Engineering (miscellaneous) (Q2) - Process Chemistry and Technology (Q2) - Instrumentation (Q2) - Materials Science (miscellaneous) (Q2) - Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes (Q2)

Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/CICYT-FEDER/DPI2014-57252-R

Tipo y forma: Artículo (Versión definitiva)

Área (Departamento): Área Ingen.Sistemas y Automát. (Dpto. Informát.Ingenie.Sistms.)
Área (Departamento): Área Traumatología y Ortopedia (Dpto. Cirugía)