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Women’s College Hospital Uses Operations Research to Create an Ambulatory Clinic Schedule

Author

Listed:
  • Brendan K. Eagen

    (Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G8, Canada)

  • Timothy C. Y. Chan

    (Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G8, Canada)

  • Michael W. Carter

    (Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G8, Canada)

Abstract

Women’s College Hospital (WCH) in Toronto, Canada, offers roughly 300 outpatient clinics every week. In April 2011, we started working with WCH to design a new schedule for their clinics, to accommodate a move to a new hospital building that was completed in May 2013. We developed an integer programming model to optimize the assignment of clinics to timeslots and locations, based on the desire to minimize changes from the historical schedule. In cooperation with senior leadership, we tested multiple scenarios that explored changes to space utilization policies at WCH and ultimately generated a new clinic schedule, which they implemented in May 2013. In this paper, we highlight the value our work has created for WCH and present the lessons we learned in development of the model and through our collaboration with the WCH team.

Suggested Citation

  • Brendan K. Eagen & Timothy C. Y. Chan & Michael W. Carter, 2018. "Women’s College Hospital Uses Operations Research to Create an Ambulatory Clinic Schedule," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 10(3), pages 230-240, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orserv:v:10:y:2018:i:3:p:230-240
    DOI: serv.2018.0221
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Lisa M. Maillart & Maria E. Mayorga, 2018. "Introduction to the Special Issue on Advancing Health Services," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 10(3), pages 1-1, September.
    2. Justin J. Boutilier & Timothy C. Y. Chan, 2023. "Introducing and Integrating Machine Learning in an Operations Research Curriculum: An Application-Driven Course," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 23(2), pages 64-83, January.

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