Abstract
The Surgery Department generates a sizeable amount of the income of a hospital. This study
evaluates the variability in the scheduling of surgeries and how this threatens the efficiency of
the service. This study uses an algorithm for the generation of two schedules that were later
compared with a manually-generated schedule in a hospital in Colombia. The difference be-
tween the generated schedules is the inclusion or lack thereof of the maximum time deviations
in surgery times, under the assumption that these are caused by external factors and may be
eliminated. Results show that by using an automatic algorithm to schedule the surgeries response
time and operating room use can be improved. Moreover, it can be concluded that the variability
associated with manual scheduling has a greater impact than the one associated to other factors
in the service performance indicators.
evaluates the variability in the scheduling of surgeries and how this threatens the efficiency of
the service. This study uses an algorithm for the generation of two schedules that were later
compared with a manually-generated schedule in a hospital in Colombia. The difference be-
tween the generated schedules is the inclusion or lack thereof of the maximum time deviations
in surgery times, under the assumption that these are caused by external factors and may be
eliminated. Results show that by using an automatic algorithm to schedule the surgeries response
time and operating room use can be improved. Moreover, it can be concluded that the variability
associated with manual scheduling has a greater impact than the one associated to other factors
in the service performance indicators.
Translated title of the contribution | Variability control in the scheduling of elective patients in operating rooms |
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Original language | Spanish |
Pages (from-to) | 78-87 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Revista Gerencia y Politicas de Salud |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 28 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 30 Jun 2015 |