Mathematical Programming and Heuristics for Patient Scheduling in Hospitals

2017 ◽  
pp. 420-439
Author(s):  
Daniel Gartner ◽  
Rema Padman
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Problem Definition ◽  
Patient Scheduling ◽  
Demand Growth ◽  
Registered Nursing ◽  
Job Growth ◽  
Constrained Environments ◽  
Hospital Resources ◽  
Bureau Of Labor Statistics ◽  
Reduced Mobility

The effective and efficient treatment of individual patients subject to scarce hospital resources is an increasingly important and challenging problem for decision makers to address. A recent study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics listed Registered Nursing among the top occupations in terms of job growth until the year 2022 (American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2015)). This growing demand can be explained in part by the large number of aging baby boomers with multi-morbid health conditions who typically require more treatments and longer length of stay in a variety of healthcare delivery settings (Vetrano et al. (2014)). Given the projected demand growth and reduced mobility of elderly patients, efficient operational research methods have to be developed and deployed for optimizing the process of scheduling the treatment of individual patients in highly resource constrained environments. We will henceforth denote this process as ‘patient scheduling' and provide a problem definition and a review of current approaches in the course of this chapter.

Mathematical Programming and Heuristics for Patient Scheduling in Hospitals

2017 ◽  
pp. 627-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Gartner ◽  
Rema Padman
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Problem Definition ◽  
Patient Scheduling ◽  
Demand Growth ◽  
Registered Nursing ◽  
Job Growth ◽  
Constrained Environments ◽  
Hospital Resources ◽  
Bureau Of Labor Statistics ◽  
Reduced Mobility

The effective and efficient treatment of individual patients subject to scarce hospital resources is an increasingly important and challenging problem for decision makers to address. A recent study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics listed Registered Nursing among the top occupations in terms of job growth until the year 2022 (American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2015)). This growing demand can be explained in part by the large number of aging baby boomers with multi-morbid health conditions who typically require more treatments and longer length of stay in a variety of healthcare delivery settings (Vetrano et al. (2014)). Given the projected demand growth and reduced mobility of elderly patients, efficient operational research methods have to be developed and deployed for optimizing the process of scheduling the treatment of individual patients in highly resource constrained environments. We will henceforth denote this process as ‘patient scheduling' and provide a problem definition and a review of current approaches in the course of this chapter.

Supply Chain Thinking in Healthcare: Lessons and Outlooks

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lidia Betcheva ◽  
Feryal Erhun ◽  
Houyuan Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chain Management ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Problem Definition ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Chain Management ◽  
Managerial Implications

Problem definition: The lessons learned over decades of supply chain management provide an opportunity for stakeholders in complex systems, such as healthcare, to understand, evaluate, and improve their complicated and often inefficient ecosystems. Academic/practical relevance: The complexity in managing healthcare supply chains offers opportunities for important and impactful research avenues in key supply chain management areas such as coordination and integration (e.g., new care models), mass customization (e.g., the rise in precision medicine), and incentives (e.g., emerging reimbursement schemes), which might, in turn, provide insights relevant to traditional supply chains. We also put forward new perspectives for practice and possible research directions for the supply chain management community. Methodology: We provide a primer on supply chain thinking in healthcare, with a focus on healthcare delivery, by following a framework that is customer focused, systems based, and strategically orientated and that simultaneously considers clinical, operational, and financial dimensions. Our goal is to offer an understanding of how concepts and strategies in supply chain management can be applied and tailored to healthcare by considering the sector’s unique challenges and opportunities. Results: After identifying key healthcare stakeholders and their interactions, we discuss the main challenges facing healthcare services from a supply chain perspective and provide examples of how various supply chain strategies are being and can be used in healthcare. Managerial implications: By using supply chain thinking, healthcare organizations can decrease costs and improve the quality of care by uncovering, quantifying, and addressing inefficiencies.

scholarly journals Preparedness and guidelines for neurosurgery in the COVID-19 era: Indian perspective from a tertiary care referral hospital

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. E3
Author(s):  
Amol Raheja ◽  
Nitish Agarwal ◽  
Sarita Mohapatra ◽  
Vivek Tandon ◽  
Sachin Anil Borkar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tertiary Care ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
High Volume ◽  
Resident Training ◽  
Referral Hospital ◽  
Global Consensus ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
Hospital Resources ◽  
New Guidelines

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted healthcare systems globally. The need of the hour is the development of effective strategies for protecting the lives of healthcare providers (HCPs) and judicious triage for optimal utilization of human and hospital resources. During this pandemic, neurosurgery, like other specialties, must transform, innovate, and adopt new guidelines and safety protocols for reducing the risk of cross-infection of HCPs without compromising patient care. In this article, the authors discuss the current neurosurgical practice guidelines at a high-volume tertiary care referral hospital in India and compare them with international guidelines and global consensus for neurosurgery practice in the COVID-19 era. Additionally, the authors highlight some of the modifications incorporated into their clinical practice, including those for stratification of neurosurgical cases, patient triaging based on COVID-19 testing, optimal manpower management, infrastructure reorganization, evolving modules for resident training, and innovations in operating guidelines. The authors recommend the use of their blueprint for stratification of neurosurgical cases, including their protocol for algorithmic patient triage and management and their template for manpower allocation to COVID-19 duty, as a replicable model for efficient healthcare delivery.

Applied Business Intelligence in Surgery Waiting Lists Management

2019 ◽  
pp. 1580-1594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristiana Neto ◽  
Inês Dias ◽  
Maria Santos ◽  
Hugo Peixoto ◽  
José Machado
Keyword(s):  
Business Intelligence ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Waiting Times ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Quality Of Healthcare ◽  
Hospital Environment ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
New Information ◽  
Hospital Resources

With the advent of computer science in hospitals, Electronic Health Record comes up, with the aim of bringing the new information technologies to the hospital environment with the promise not only to replace the paper process, but also to improve and provide better patient care. The operationalization of the EHR in supporting evidence-based practice, complex and conscientious decision-making, and improving the quality of healthcare delivery has been supported by the Business Intelligence (BI) technology. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the Portuguese health system has been confronted with a chronic problem, waiting time for surgery, due to inability to respond to demand for surgical therapy. Therefore, using business intelligence and information, obtained with the construction of dashboards, can help, for example, allocating hospital resources and reducing waiting times.

Applied Business Intelligence in Surgery Waiting Lists Management

2018 ◽  
pp. 171-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristiana Neto ◽  
Inês Dias ◽  
Maria Santos ◽  
Hugo Peixoto ◽  
José Machado
Keyword(s):  
Business Intelligence ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Waiting Times ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Quality Of Healthcare ◽  
Hospital Environment ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
New Information ◽  
Hospital Resources

With the advent of computer science in hospitals, Electronic Health Record comes up, with the aim of bringing the new information technologies to the hospital environment with the promise not only to replace the paper process, but also to improve and provide better patient care. The operationalization of the EHR in supporting evidence-based practice, complex and conscientious decision-making, and improving the quality of healthcare delivery has been supported by the Business Intelligence (BI) technology. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the Portuguese health system has been confronted with a chronic problem, waiting time for surgery, due to inability to respond to demand for surgical therapy. Therefore, using business intelligence and information, obtained with the construction of dashboards, can help, for example, allocating hospital resources and reducing waiting times.

scholarly journals Trends In IT Human Resources And Its Impact On Curriculum Design

2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vipin K Agrawal ◽  
Frank Tenkorang ◽  
Vijay K. Agrawal ◽  
Allen R. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Curriculum Design ◽  
The United States ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
Labor Statistics ◽  
Job Growth ◽  
Core Concepts ◽  
Information Technology Curriculum ◽  
It Human Resources ◽  
Bureau Of Labor Statistics

In light of rapid changes in technology and business, institutions of higher education face the difficult task of adapting their curriculum to be general enough to cover all the core concepts of the discipline while being specific enough to prepare students with the knowledge and skills needed by businesses. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) forecasts that the demand for IT professionals in the United States will continue to increase but the demand will not be evenly distributed across all areas. The BLS breaks future demand into job categories but it does not explore the meta-trends that will drive future job growth and is thus of limited value for curriculum development purposes. This paper reviews existing literature and develops a conceptual framework of the meta-trends driving job growth. This framework is intended to be used as a guide by Information Technology curriculum committees to aid in establishing a curriculum that meets the needs of key stakeholders while avoiding the trap of chasing the latest fads.

Identifying research and development priorities for an in-hospital 3D design engineering facility in India

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic Eggbeer ◽  
Divya Mehrotra ◽  
Katie Beverley ◽  
Steven Hollisey-McLean ◽  
Peter Evans
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Public Hospital ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Patient Specific ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Resource Constrained ◽  
Innovation Ecosystem ◽  
3D Design ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Constrained Environments

Advanced three-dimensional (3D) design and engineering technologies have revolutionized patient-specific implants, prostheses and medical devices, particularly in the cranio-maxillofacial and oral medical fields. Lately, decreasing costs, coupled with the reported benefits of bringing design and production technology closer to the point of healthcare delivery, have encouraged hospitals to implement their own 3D design and engineering services. Most academic literature reports on the factors that influence the sustainable development of such services in high-income countries. But what of low- and middle-income countries where demand for custom craniofacial devices is high? What are the unique challenges to implement in-hospital services in resource-constrained environments? This article reports the findings of a collaborative project, Co-MeDDI (Collaborative Medical Device Design Initiative), that brought together a UK-based team with the experience of setting up and running a hospital-based 3D service in the United Kingdom with the Maxillofacial Department of a public hospital in the Uttar Pradesh region of India, which had recently received funding to establish a similar capability. We describe a structured design research approach consisting of a series of exchange activities taking place during the lifetime of the project that compared different aspects of the healthcare innovation ecosystem for 3D services in India and the United Kingdom. Based on the findings of the different activities, we identify key factors that influence the adoption of such services in India. The findings are of relevance to healthcare policy-makers and public hospital managers in resource-constrained environments, and to academics and practitioners engaging in collaborative export of healthcare initiatives.

Vehicle Maintenance Contracting in Developing Economies: The Role of Social Enterprise

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Chen ◽  
Sang-Hyun Kim ◽  
Hau L. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Operations Management ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Social Enterprise ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Problem Definition ◽  
Solution Approach ◽  
Social Mission

Problem definition: Difficulties in healthcare delivery in developing economies arise from poor road infrastructure of rural communities, where the bulk of the population resides. Although motorcycles are an effective means for delivering healthcare products, governments in developing economies lack expertise in proper maintenance, resulting in frequent vehicle breakdowns. Riders for Health, a nonprofit social enterprise (SE), has developed specialized capabilities that enable significant enhancements in vehicle maintenance. Riders for Health has engaged with the governments and provided its services using different contracting approaches. However, the effect of such practice on improving vehicle availability—the main social mission of Riders for Health—is not well understood. Academic/practical relevance: This paper presents one of the first rigorous analyses of how SEs achieve their goals through innovations in operations. Our analysis highlights the relationship between a social mission objective and a service contract choice, contrasting it with the choice by a profit-maximizing organization traditionally assumed in the service contracting literature in operations management. Methodology: We construct and analyze a stylized model that combines the elements of reliability theory and contract theory, explicitly accounting for the SE’s social mission in her objective function. Results: We find that the “total solution” approach of providing all aspects of vehicle maintenance, including fleet ownership, is a preferred choice for an SE that prioritizes improving vehicle availability; by contrast, an organization that focuses on profit maximization would find this approach less attractive. Moreover, we show that the total solution approach induces the SE to exert more efforts on failure prevention and repair lead time reduction in equilibrium. Our analysis also suggests that the SE could further improve vehicle availability by the total solution approach if it manages a large fleet that consists of vehicles with high resale values. Managerial implications: Our findings provide theoretical support for Riders for Health’s recent move toward the total solution approach as it expands its service into wider rural areas in many countries. The insights obtained from our analysis offer actionable guidelines to other SEs operating in developing economies.

Motility of leukemic lymphocytes

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 368-369
Author(s):  
Manoj Raje ◽  
Karvita B. Ahluwalia
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Laser Doppler Velocimetry ◽  
Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia ◽  
Lymphocytic Leukemia ◽  
Cellular Space ◽  
Differentiated Cells ◽  
Poorly Differentiated ◽  
Solid Tissues ◽  
Well Differentiated ◽  
Reduced Mobility

In Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia motility of lymphocytes is associated with dissemination of malignancy and establishment of metastatic foci. Normal and leukemic lymphocytes in circulation reach solid tissues where due to in adequate perfusion some cells get trapped among tissue spaces. Although normal lymphocytes reenter into circulation leukemic lymphocytes are thought to remain entrapped owing to reduced mobility and form secondary metastasis. Cell surface, transmembrane interactions, cytoskeleton and level of cell differentiation are implicated in lymphocyte mobility. An attempt has been made to correlate ultrastructural information with quantitative data obtained by Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV). TEM of normal & leukemic lymphocytes revealed heterogeneity in cell populations ranging from well differentiated (Fig. 1) to poorly differentiated cells (Fig. 2). Unlike other cells, surface extensions in differentiated lymphocytes appear to originate by extrusion of large vesicles in to extra cellular space (Fig. 3). This results in persistent unevenness on lymphocyte surface which occurs due to a phenomenon different from that producing surface extensions in other cells.

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