Doctor Interruptions and Unpunctuality in Outpatient Appointment Scheduling
Limited attention has been given to the combined effect of doctor interruptions and unpunctuality in appointment scheduling. Interruptions are defined in this study as delays in service provision by the doctor prior to appointment times (e.g., phone calls, writing up charts/notes, dealing with staff). Unpunctuality refers to the doctor arriving late for the first appointment. In this paper, a simulation optimization approach (motivated by data collected) is used to determine how to adjust the schedule with increasing levels of interruptions and unpunctuality. Due to the significant uncertainty in the system, appointment scheduling is a difficult problem for practitioners and researchers. The approach used in this study combines simulation with metaheuristics techniques. Arena 4 is used for the simulation, while 8 is used as the heuristic search engine. The heuristic is based on a scatter search engine that includes secondary heuristics that utilize tabu search and neural networks 6 7.
Appointment Scheduling Medical Services
Kenneth J Klassen Reena Yoogalingam
Department of Finance, Operations & Information Systems Brock University, St.Catharines, Ontario, Canada
国际会议
The Third International Conference on Operations and Supply Chain Management(第三届运营与供应链管理国际会议)
武汉
英文
717-719
2009-07-28（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）