Decision support system for rehabilitation scheduling to enhance the service quality and the effectiveness of hospital resource management

Abstract

In hospitals, rehabilitation inpatients often complain about long waiting time between the therapeutic processes. Due to the partial precedence constraints of rehabilitation therapies, the rehabilitation scheduling problem is a hybrid shop scheduling problem. This article aims to construct a decision support system for rehabilitation scheduling. Equipped with the developed genetic algorithm, this system can generate the optimal schedules for rehabilitation patients to minimize waiting time and thus enhance service quality and overall resource effectiveness of rehabilitation facilities. The developed system is also equipped with GUI (graphical user interfaces) to provide scheduling information including Gantt charts and scheduling lists to support various users including therapists and inpatients. We conducted an empirical study in a general hospital for validation. The results showed that the waiting time of each inpatient is reduced significantly and thus demonstrated the practical viability of the proposed solution to enhance the effectiveness of hospital resource management. The developed system has been implemented online in the hospital.

復健治療常因為治療人數眾多且治療項目複雜 ， 病患必須等候很長的時間。 由於部分療程先後順序的限制 ， 本問題實為複雜的混合排程問題 ， 本研究發展出以基因演算法為理論基礎的復健治療排程系統以提升醫療品質 ， 降低治療等候時間。 本復健排程系統以等候時間最小化為目標 ， 將必須接受復健治療的住院病患進行最佳化的治療排程 ， 系統提供護理人員該病房病人的復健項目與治療時間 ， 讓護理站事先做好病患的復健治療的通知與準備 ， 另外 ， 也同時提供復健科所有住院病患治療項目與復健儀器的使用時間 ， 讓復健師能清楚指導住院病患的治療順序 ， 減少病患在治療過程的等候時間。 本研究經實證醫院執行結果 ， 證實可以明顯降低病患等候時間 ， 提升復健治療品質與醫療資源的有效管理。

(*聯絡人: [email protected])

Keywords:

• decision support system
• hybrid shop scheduling
• genetic algorithm
• rehabilitation
• total resource management
• hospital management

Keywords:

• 關鍵詞： 決策支援系統 ， 混合排程 ， 基因演算法 ， 復健 ， 全面資源管理 ， 醫院管理

Acknowledgements

This research is supported by National Science Council, Taiwan (NSC 100-2628-E-007-017-MY3), Inter-Tsinghua Collaborative Research Project (101N2705E1), Tsing Hua-McKay Hospital Management Project (101N2724E1), and the Advanced Manufacturing and Service Management Research Center (101N2073E1) of NTHU, Taiwan.

Notes

(*聯絡人: [email protected])