The State of the Art of Nurse Rostering
| 
| 
A three-phase approach for operating theatre schedules
Written by Angela Testi and Elena Tanfani and Giancarlo Torre |
| |
In this paper we develop a three-phase, hierarchical approach for the weekly scheduling of operating rooms. This approach has been implemented in one of the surgical departments of a public hospital located in Genova (Genoa), Italy. Our aim is to suggest an integrated way of facing surgical activity planning in order to improve overall operating theatre efficiency in terms of overtime and throughput as well as waiting list reduction, while improving department organization. In the first phase we solve a bin packing-like problem in order to select the number of sessions to be weekly scheduled for each ward; the proposed and original selection criterion is based upon an updated priority score taking into proper account both the waiting list of each ward and the reduction of residual ward demand. Then we use a blocked booking method for determining optimal time tables, denoted Master Surgical Schedule (MSS), by defining the assignment between wards and surgery rooms. Lastly, once the MSS has been determined we use the simulation software environment Witness 2004 in order to analyze different sequencings of surgical activities that arise when priority is given on the basis of a) the longest waiting time (LWT), b) the longest processing time (LPT) and c) the shortest processing time (SPT). The resulting simulation models also allow us to outline possible organizational improvements in surgical activity. The results of an extensive computational experimentation pertaining to the studied surgical department are here given and analyzed. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007. Article provided by Springer in its journal Health Care Management Science (Download) |
Operating rooms scheduling
Written by Aïda Jebalia, Atidel B. Hadj Alouaneb, and Pierre Ladeta |
| |
Many healthcare institutions have been researching tools to reduce costs and to ensure efficient use of hospital facilities. Operating rooms are considered among the most costly hospital facilities. In the present work, a two-step approach for operating rooms scheduling is introduced. The first step consists of assigning surgical operations to operating rooms. The second step consists of sequencing the assigned operations with the objective of improving operating room use while taking into account the various resource-related constraints and the specifications of the operations processes. Two strategies for operations sequencing are presented: (1) operation assignment to operating rooms obtained at the first step is not reconsidered, (2) operation assignment to operating rooms is redefined in order to be less constrained. Computational experiments performed on a set of randomly generated problems are used to compare the two strategies. International Journal of Production Economics, (Download). |
