Integrating surgeons' preferences in the operating theatre planning

Benoit Roland and Fouad Riane

European Journal of Industrial Engineering, 2011, vol. 5, issue 2, pages 232-250

Abstract: In healthcare systems, the operating theatre is recognised as having an important role, notably in terms of generated income and cost. Its management, and in particular its scheduling, is thus a critical activity. A less costly organisation of the operating rooms needs a more rational use of the resources, which requires optimising the surgical schedule. As we are concerned in the medical staff well-being, we integrate the surgeons' preferences when setting up such schedules. This planning process is usually decomposed in two sequential phases: a planning stage followed by a scheduling stage. Due to this decomposition the resulting solutions may turn out to be sub-optimal. This paper describes a mixed-integer programming that completely covers the planning and scheduling of the surgical operations. The pursued objective is twofold: minimising the operating cost and maximising the surgeons' welfare. [Received 30 September 2008; Revised 29 May 2009; Revised 18 March 2010; Accepted 2 June 2010]

Keywords: scheduling; healthcare management; operating theatre planning; mixed-integer programming; actor preferences; operating theatres; surgery; surgical schedules; surgeon preferences; operating costs; surgeon welfare (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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