Title: Reduction of service time variation in patient visit groups using decision tree method for an effective scheduling

Authors: Yu-Li Huang; Alla Kammerdiner

Addresses: Department of Industrial Engineering, New Mexico State University, MSC 4230, P.O. Box 30001, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA ' Department of Industrial Engineering, New Mexico State University, MSC 4230, P.O. Box 30001, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA

Abstract: Patient dissatisfaction has long been a recognised problem in current outpatient healthcare delivery systems especially with patient wait time. Many solutions have tried to improve the service quality from the view points of cost reduction and increasing utilisation of medical staff. However, the uncertainty of physician treatment time has been one of the primary concerns for effective scheduling. This paper demonstrates an analytical concept on improving quality of service for a clinic from the aspects of reducing costs and waiting by reclassifying patient visit groups in order to reduce the variability of physician service uncertainty. A case study from an orthopaedic surgery clinic is presented to illustrate the classification method by using a decision tree technique and how the redesign of scheduling better manages the variability of treatment times, helps alleviate the wait time for both patients and physicians, reduce overall costs of waiting and overtime, and consequently, improve the overall service quality.

Keywords: scheduling; appointments; reclassification; patient groups; decision tree; patient wait time; physician idle time; healthcare delivery; service quality; treatment time; service time variation; outpatients; orthopaedic surgery clinics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHTM.2013.055081

International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, 2013 Vol.14 No.1/2, pp.3 - 21

Received: 19 Nov 2011
Accepted: 02 Oct 2012

Published online: 19 Jul 2014 *

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