University of Twente Student Theses
Optimization of Patient Planning at a Cardiology Outpatient Clinic
Boelens, F.A. (2022) Optimization of Patient Planning at a Cardiology Outpatient Clinic.
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| Abstract: | We develop mathematical models to optimize and support the patient planning at a cardiology outpatient clinic, both in the long-term and the short-term. For the long term, we develop a method for scheduling patients that need a follow-up consult. We do this in such a way that also new patients that will be referred to the outpatient clinic have acceptable access times. We model the arrival and planning process of new patients as a non-stationary infinite horizon Markov Decision Process (MDP). To be able to solve it, we truncate the problem to a finite horizon problem. We approximate the state values at the horizon by the state values of a stationary infinite horizon MDP. We show that the error of this truncation and approximation is bounded. For the admission planning of follow-up patients we develop a stochastic Integer Linear Programming (ILP) model, in which we include the MDP model. The output of the model is an optimal division of capacity between new patients and follow-up patients and optimal decisions regarding the planning of follow-up patients. Based on the output of the model, we develop a method that generates an advice for a cardiologist on the week they should plan a patient that needs a follow-up consult. We perform a simulation to test the performance of our long-term planning method. We compare our method to a myopic method. Simulation results show that using our method yields lower access times than using the myopic method. Furthermore, for the short-term planning, the MDP that models the arrival and planning process of new patients can be used to find the optimal number of appointment slots that need to be reserved for new patients. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | EEMCS: Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science |
| Subject: | 31 mathematics |
| Programme: | Applied Mathematics MSc (60348) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/90472 |
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