Developing a Decision Support System for Operating Room Schedule Management

Master thesis (2024)

Authors

S.M. Smid Mechanical Engineering

Contributors

J.J. van den Dobbelsteen Medical Instruments & Bio-Inspired Technology - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering (mentor)
A.M. Schouten Medical Instruments & Bio-Inspired Technology - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering (mentor)
Faculty
Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
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Published Date

23-05-2024

Language

English

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Faculty

Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

Effective management of operating room (OR) schedules is vital for the efficient operation of healthcare facilities, especially considering the impact of decisions on staff, patients and costs. While extensive research has focused on optimizing initial schedules, the dynamic nature of surgery days introduces uncertainties that impact scheduling decisions. The study proposes equipping OR coordinators with a decision support system that leverages real-time insights and readily available hospital data to aid in decision making on the day of surgery. This thesis underscores the usefulness of OR policy documents in guiding decision support system design. Additionally, emphasis is placed on the need for standardized data and frequent real-time updates to improve the decision support systems accuracy and efficiency. To improve the performance of the decision support system efforts should be focussed on refining input data generated by hospitals.