A hierarchical multiple criteria mathematical programming approach for scheduling general surgery operations in large...

Area of Science:

• Operations Research
• Healthcare Management
• Surgical Services Optimization

Background:

• Limited surgical staff and equipment necessitate efficient resource utilization across multiple surgical teams.
• Effective operating room (OR) scheduling is critical for maximizing throughput and patient care in surgical services.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop hierarchical multiple criteria mathematical programming models for generating weekly operating room schedules.
• To optimize OR utilization, balance surgeon workloads, and reduce patient waiting times.

Main Methods:

• A hierarchical approach was used, breaking the complex scheduling problem into three stages: patient selection, operation assignment to surgeons, and determination of operation dates and ORs.
• Mathematical programming models were developed to address multiple objectives, including OR capacity utilization, balanced distribution of operations (days, lengths), and minimized patient waiting times.
• The models were tested using data from a university hospital and simulated datasets, employing the MPL optimization package.

Main Results:

• The developed models provide a structured framework for generating efficient weekly operating room schedules.
• The hierarchical approach effectively manages the computational complexity of multi-objective OR scheduling.
• The models demonstrated potential for improving operating room utilization and reducing patient wait times.

Conclusions:

• Hierarchical mathematical programming models offer a robust solution for optimizing surgical operating room scheduling.
• Efficient resource allocation in surgical services can be achieved through advanced scheduling models.
• These models can support better management of surgical resources and improve patient flow.