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Simulation-Based Analysis of Appointment Scheduling System in Healthcare Services: A Critical Review

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Abstract

This review paper investigates the healthcare' simulation appointment scheduling system (SASS). It primarily aims to highlight critical appointment scheduling challenges and outline the most prominent research topics. This critical review also intends to provide a comprehensive summary of these works, revealing progress achieved on the topic while highlighting potential concerns in healthcare that can be modeled via simulation. In total, 350 articles published in the period 2000–2021 in the Web of Science database were collected; 250 articles were chosen for review. Several approaches are discovered using the keyword SASS analysis, with four simulation approaches central to the research subject and deserving additional consideration. Finally, this study indicates that future research should focus on improving the efficiency of simulation optimization methods by reducing their time cost and increasing satisfaction.

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Abbreviations

ABS:

Agent-based simulation

AI:

Artificial intelligence

AS:

Appointment scheduling

DES:

Discrete event simulation

GA:

Genetic algorithm

HA:

Heuristic algorithm

HSM:

Hybrid simulation model

MCS:

Monte Carlo simulation

SASS:

Simulation appointment scheduling system

WoS:

Web of science

WTS:

Waiting time per slot

SCI:

Science citation index

ESCI:

Emerging sources citation index

SJR:

Scimago journal and country rank

JCR:

Journal citation reports

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No. 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Ali Ala

  2. Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering, University of Belgrade, Vojvode Stepe 305, 11010, Belgrade, Serbia

    Vladimir Simic

  3. The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, University College London, London, WC1E 7HB, UK

    Muhammet Deveci

  4. Department of Industrial Engineering, Turkish Naval Academy, National Defence University, Tuzla, 34940, Istanbul, Turkey

    Muhammet Deveci

  5. Department of Operations Research and Statistics, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia

    Dragan Pamucar

  6. Department of Logistics, Military Academy, University of Defence, Veljka Lukica Kurjaka 33, 11042, Belgrade, Serbia

    Dragan Pamucar

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  1. Ali Ala
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  2. Vladimir Simic
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  3. Muhammet Deveci
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Correspondence to Ali Ala.

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Ala, A., Simic, V., Deveci, M. et al. Simulation-Based Analysis of Appointment Scheduling System in Healthcare Services: A Critical Review. Arch Computat Methods Eng 30, 1961–1978 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11831-022-09855-z

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