Operating Theater Management System: Block-Scheduling

Abstract

In this article, we review the characteristics of the mixed integer linear programming (MILP) procedure to establish a block-schedule of an operating room (OR). We then propose another approach based on distributed artificial intelligence (DAI) to establish an optimal surgical program. This consists in optimizing the skeleton of a fixed block-schedule. Our main goal is to propose a flexible planning tool using the techniques (DAI) to create or improve periodically a block-schedule. Another motivation of our study is to design a model that allows planning that can be adjusted to changes in the state of the operating theater. In fact, the OR schedule established by conventional methods with non-real data does not take into account the weekly variability, however common, especially the variations of the doctors’ preferences concerning their availability for a time slot of the week, the amount of hours awarded to a team of surgeons or a given specialty, the duration of shifts, and the availability of a specific operating room for a specific team. Simulation tests on a typical case using real data are performed by both methods. The results allow us to conclude as to the superiority of the model (DAI).