Patient Scheduling: The Case of an Iranian Cardiology Clinic

Abstract

Across the world, cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are among the leading causes of death. In Iran, it is estimated that about 46% of all the reported deaths is related to CVD. This article focuses on the patient scheduling practices of a private cardiology clinic in Iran. Several complaints from the patients and staff members of the clinic are reviewed. The study shows that the patients in the clinic are classified into six major groups; the steps each group must undergo in the clinic as well as the time related to each operation is measured. A constraint programming model is developed to schedule the patients and rectify the complaints. Computational results based on 30 days of actual data from the clinic reveals that the proposed model manages to significantly improve the efficiency measures and is successful in resolving the causes of complaints. Furthermore, the developed constraint programming generates optimum solutions in a rather short amount of time.