Designing cyclic appointment schedules for outpatient clinics with scheduled and unscheduled patient arrivals

Nikky Kortbeek, Maartje E. Zonderland, Aleida Braaksma, Ingrid M.H. Vliegen, Richard J. Boucherie, Nelly Litvak, Erwin W. Hans

Onderzoeksoutput: Bijdrage aan tijdschriftTijdschriftartikelAcademicpeer review

38 Citaten (Scopus)

Samenvatting

We present a methodology to design appointment systems for outpatient clinics and diagnostic facilities that offer both walk-in and scheduled service. The developed blueprint for the appointment schedule prescribes the number of appointments to plan per day and the moment on the day to schedule the appointments. The method consists of two models; one for the day process that governs scheduled and unscheduled arrivals on the day and one for the access process of scheduled arrivals. Appointment schedules that balance the waiting time at the facility for unscheduled patients and the access time for scheduled patients are calculated iteratively using the outcomes of the two models. Two methods to calculate appointment schedules, complete enumeration and a heuristic procedure, are compared in various numerical experiments. Furthermore, an appointment schedule for the CT-scan facility at the Academic Medical Center Amsterdam, The Netherlands, is developed to demonstrate the practical merits of the methodology. The method is of general nature and can therefore also be applied to scheduling problems in other sectors than health care.

Originele taal-2Engels
Pagina's (van-tot)5-26
Aantal pagina's22
TijdschriftPerformance Evaluation
Volume80
Nummer van het tijdschriftC
DOI's
StatusGepubliceerd - 1 okt. 2014

Financiering

This research is supported by the Dutch Technology Foundation STW, applied science division of NWO (Grant No. 08140 ) and the Technology Program of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The authors are grateful to the health care managers and medical doctors of Academic Medical Center Amsterdam and Leiden University Medical Center, who inspired us to take up this research topic, the many fruitful discussions and their involvement in further development and implementation of the methodology.

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