Title: Optimal scheduling in walk-in outpatient clinics: a mixed hybrid flow shop problem approach

Authors: Zhu Zhecheng

Addresses: Health Services and Outcomes Research, National Healthcare Group (NHG), #04-01, 6 Commonwealth Lane, GMTI Building, 149547, Singapore

Abstract: One of the major challenges most outpatient clinics are facing is how to cope with the increasing demand pressure due to population growth and ageing. This paper studies how to improve the scheduling practise in a generic walk-in outpatient clinic with complex patient flows. Mathematical programming is applied to model the outpatient clinic as a mixed hybrid flow shop problem. Optimal schedule of the outpatient clinic is achieved by solving the mathematical programming model. Computational results prove that better scheduling helps to improve the performance of outpatient clinics without additional resources.

Keywords: healthcare management; outpatient clinics; clinic scheduling; mathematical programming; hybrid flow shops; modelling; walk-in clinics; complex flows; patient flows.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMOM.2012.047948

International Journal of Modelling in Operations Management, 2012 Vol.2 No.3, pp.279 - 287

Published online: 21 Aug 2014 *

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