The problem of appointment scheduling in outpatient clinics: A multiple case study of clinical practice

Alex Kuiper, Jeroen de Mast and Michel Mandjes

Omega, 2021, vol. 98, issue C

Abstract: Operations research and management science have produced many algorithms or rules for appointment scheduling, approaching that task as a mathematical optimization problem. It is, however, not sufficiently clear to what extent such problem definitions capture the objectives and limitations of appointment scheduling in real healthcare applications. This paper aims to reconstruct the structure of the problem faced by outpatient clinics by applying a multiple-case-study approach, based on a research model developed from operations-management theory, followed up by workshops. This study therefore breaks new ground by linking the problem of appointment scheduling as rendered by the operations-research literature to theory in operations management and practice in the field.

Keywords: Appointment scheduling; Healthcare operations management; Case-study research; Process variability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.omega.2019.102122

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