Minimizing total cost in outpatient scheduling with unpunctual arrivals

Abstract

In the literature, researchers usually assume that late outpatients are not accepted by hospitals. Although this assumption simplifies models by making them analytically tractable, it rarely holds true for most clinics. This paper introduces a back row policy for late outpatients, and evaluates performance improvements from its incorporation into commonly studied appointment rules. We use simulations to obtain the expectations of patients' waiting time and doctor's idle time, and present the results in the form of efficient frontier. Through pre-established procedures, we are able to identify the optimal rule of appointment scheduling under given parameters.