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Outpatient appointment scheduling in presence of seasonal walk-ins

Author

Listed:
  • Tugba Cayirli

    (Ozyegin University, Istanbul, Turkey)

  • Evrim Didem Gunes

    (Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey)

Abstract

This study investigates appointment systems (AS), as combinations of access rules and appointment-scheduling rules, explicitly designed for dealing with walk-in seasonality. In terms of ‘access rules’, strategies are tested for adjusting capacity through intra-week, or monthly seasonality of walk-ins, or their combined effects. In terms of ‘appointment rules’, strategies are tested to determine which particular slots to double-book or leave open in cases where seasonal walk-in rates exceed or fall short of the overall yearly rate. In that regard, this study integrates capacity and appointment decisions, which are usually addressed in an isolated manner in previous studies. Simulation optimization is used to derive heuristic solutions to the appointment-scheduling problem, and the findings are compared in terms of in-clinic measures of patient wait time, physician idle time and overtime. The goal is to provide practical guidelines for healthcare practitioners on how to best design their AS when seasonal walk-ins exist.

Suggested Citation

  • Tugba Cayirli & Evrim Didem Gunes, 2014. "Outpatient appointment scheduling in presence of seasonal walk-ins," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 65(4), pages 512-531, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:jorsoc:v:65:y:2014:i:4:p:512-531
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Pan, Xingwei & Geng, Na & Xie, Xiaolan & Wen, Jing, 2020. "Managing appointments with waiting time targets and random walk-ins," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    2. Shan Wang & Nan Liu & Guohua Wan, 2020. "Managing Appointment-Based Services in the Presence of Walk-in Customers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(2), pages 667-686, February.
    3. Tugba Cayirli & Pinar Dursun & Evrim D. Gunes, 2019. "An integrated analysis of capacity allocation and patient scheduling in presence of seasonal walk-ins," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 524-561, June.
    4. Yao Xiao & Reena Yoogalingam, 2021. "Reserved capacity policies for operating room scheduling," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 107-122, June.
    5. Tugba Cayirli & Kum Khiong Yang, 2019. "Altering the Environment to Improve Appointment System Performance," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(2), pages 138-154, June.
    6. Nguyen, Thu Ba T. & Sivakumar, Appa Iyer & Graves, Stephen C., 2018. "Capacity planning with demand uncertainty for outpatient clinics," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 267(1), pages 338-348.

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