Reducing MRI access times by tackling the appointment-scheduling strategy

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Radiology Operations
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Long MRI access times negatively impact patient care and service quality.
• Scarce and expensive MRI resources necessitate improved capacity utilization.
• Inefficient patient appointment scheduling is a primary driver of extended MRI access times.

Purpose of the Study:

• To reduce MRI access times through optimization of the scheduling strategy.
• To implement an optimized scheduling strategy in a Dutch university hospital setting.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of the existing scheduling process to identify improvement areas.
• Computer simulation to model the process and test various scheduling strategies.
• Design and implementation of a new scheduling strategy based on simulation findings.

Main Results:

• Simulation experiments demonstrated that block reduction could decrease MRI access times by up to 93%.
• Implementation of a practical scheduling strategy with minimal blocks reduced average access times across patient groups from 9-36 days to 1-10 days.

Conclusions:

• Process modeling is effective for optimizing scheduling strategies in imaging facilities.
• Optimized scheduling significantly reduces MRI access times, enhancing operational efficiency and patient service.