Abstract
This article presents a systematic literature review of the application of industrial engineering methods in healthcare scheduling, with a focus on the role of patient behavior in scheduling. Nine articles that used mathematical programming, data mining, genetic algorithms, and local searches for optimum schedules were obtained from an extensive search of literature. These methods are new approaches to solve the problems in healthcare scheduling. Some are adapted from areas such as manufacturing and transportation. Key findings from these studies include reduced time for scheduling, capability of solving more complex problems, and incorporation of more variables and constraints simultaneously than traditional scheduling methods. However, none of these methods modeled no‐show and walk‐ins patient behavior. Future research should include more variables related to patient and/or environment.
Highlights
Following the search of the electronic database, a total of 2,174 citations were obtained, of which 2,066 citations were excluded for irrelevance to the topic of the review
The attention of the new methods is focused at staff scheduling, but at patient scheduling. These methods aim at the reduction of patient waiting time and total time spent in the medical facility
The methods covered in this literature review represent new approaches to solving the problem of scheduling in healthcare
Summary
Background A healthcare provider operates in a regulated industry in which the quality of its performance is evaluated in terms of the services rendered to the patient and the effectiveness of the provider’s process. A measure of process effectiveness is the. Patient satisfaction is an important measure of quality of healthcare. A well designed scheduling system could increase patient satisfaction, access to care, as well as the effectiveness of healthcare operations [6, 7 and 8]. Surveys suggest that excessive waiting time is a major reason for patient’s dissatisfaction [9]. In addition to clinical competence, a reasonable waiting time is expected [10]. The scheduling process is a critical element for the patients and practitioners, and often, is the first contact between the patient and provider [11]. Patients want to be seen on time by physicians who in turn want a system to triage patients efficiently [11]
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