An integrated approach to hospital scheduling
Project dates: 01/01/2015 - 01/01/2018
Hospitals are critical elements of health care systems and access to their services is very competitive around the world. As demands have increased many hospitals have become larger. It is apparent that expansion activities cannot be performed without limit, as there are many physical and financial impediments. To achieve further improvements and to restrict cost increases, hospitals may need to operate more efficiently with the resources they already possess.
It is important for hospitals to treat patients quickly and efficiently and to use their resources wisely. By more efficiently utilising the existing hospital resources, such as beds and other treatment spaces, it may be possible to increase the number of patients a hospital would otherwise treat, or reduce the number of resources that are required to meet given demands.
To effectively utilise hospital beds, operating rooms (OR) and other treatment spaces, it is necessary to precisely plan patient admissions and treatments in advance. As patient treatment and recovery times are uncertain, this is challenging.
QUT has been working with Princess Alexandra Hospital to develop an integrated mathematical approach to synchronise and optimise patient scheduling systems in public hospitals, and to ensure that the hospital’s assets and related resources are used efficiently and effectively.
Funding / Grants
- ARC Linkage Project (2015 - 2018)
Chief Investigators
Other Team Members
| QUT Staff | QUT Students | PAH Partners |
| Dr Andy Wong | Dr Ruth Luscombe | A/Prof Michael Sinnott |
| Mr Guvenc Dik | A/Prof David Cook | |
| Mr Sean Birgan | ||
| Dr Carl Dux |
Partners
Publications
- Spratt, B., Kozan, E. and Sinnott, M. (2018) Analysis of uncertainty in the surgical department. Australian Health Review (In Print)
- Burdett, Robert, Kozan, Erhan (2018) An integrated approach for scheduling health care activities in a hospital. European Journal of Operational Research, 264 (2), pp.756-773.
- Burdett, Robert, Kozan, Erhan, Sinnott, Michael, Cook, David, Tian, Glen (2017) A mixed integer linear programing approach to perform hospital capacity assessments. Expert Systems with Applications, 77, pp.170-188.
- Burdett, Robert, Kozan, Erhan (2016) A multi-criteria approach for hospital capacity analysis. European Journal of Operational Research, 255 (2), pp.505-521.
- Spratt, Belinda, Kozan, Erhan (2016) Waiting list management through master surgical schedules: A case study. Operations Research for Health Care, 10, pp.49-64.
- Luscombe, Ruth, Kozan, Erhan (2016) Dynamic resource allocation to improve emergency department efficiency in real time. European Journal of Operational Research, 255 (2), pp.593-603.
- Spencer L. M., Wong A., Eley R., Cook D., Sinnott M. and Kozan E. (2015) An Efficient Alternative Methodology for Bed Occupancy Data Collection. Asia Pacific Journal of Health Management
- Burdett, Robert, Kozan, Erhan (2015) Techniques to effectively buffer schedules in the face of uncertainties. Computers and Industrial Engineering, 87, pp.16-29.
