EURO 2025 Leeds
Abstract Submission

2009. Multi-scenario simulation-optimization approach for operating room scheduling

Invited abstract in session MD-11: Scheduling in healthcare, stream OR in Healthcare (ORAHS).

Monday, 14:30-16:00
Room: Clarendon SR 1.03

Authors (first author is the speaker)

1. Gabriela Pinto Espinosa
SKEMA Centre for Analytics and Management Science, KU Leven FEB Research Centre for Operations Management, SKEMA Business School, KU Leuven
2. Aida Jebali
SKEMA Centre for Analytics and Management Science, SKEMA Business School
3. Erik Demeulemeester
KBI, KU Leuven

Abstract

Operating rooms (ORs) are a crucial driver of hospital cost and revenue generation, a key bottleneck in patient care, employ multiple resources and impact several other departments. OR planning and scheduling has been extensively studied in the literature, addressing the complexity arising from inherent uncertainty and resource constraints. Existing approaches include stochastic and robust optimization models. However, they do not fully capture the dynamic behavior of the OR environment and fail to provide comprehensive and reliable solutions. Indeed, the integration of OR planning and scheduling with the consideration of elective and non-elective patients, multiple resources and uncertainties is a very challenging problem that still requires further development. To address it, we propose a multi-stage simulation-optimization approach that combines novel optimization models, heuristics and discrete-event simulation, leveraging the partitioning of surgeries into “more predictable surgeries” and “less predictable surgeries”. Based on generated scenarios of non-elective arrivals and surgery and recovery durations, simulation is used to test the feasibility of each daily schedule and to evaluate OR performances (such as waiting time, utilization, and overtime), while iteratively refining solutions. As such, our approach allows for building a reliable schedule that accounts for plausible OR dynamics, sources of uncertainty, resources and objectives.

Keywords

Status: accepted

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