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A stochastic programming approach for chemotherapy appointment scheduling

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  • Nur Banu Demir
  • Serhat Gul
  • Melih Çelik

Abstract

Chemotherapy appointment scheduling is a challenging problem due to the uncertainty in premedication and infusion durations. In this paper, we formulate a two‐stage stochastic mixed integer programming model for the chemotherapy appointment scheduling problem under limited availability of nurses and infusion chairs. The objective is to minimize the expected weighted sum of nurse overtime, chair idle time, and patient waiting time. The computational burden to solve real‐life instances of this problem to optimality is significantly high, even in the deterministic case. To overcome this burden, we incorporate valid bounds and symmetry breaking constraints. Progressive hedging algorithm is implemented in order to solve the improved formulation heuristically. We enhance the algorithm through a penalty update method, cycle detection and variable fixing mechanisms, and a linear approximation of the objective function. Using numerical experiments based on real data from a major oncology hospital, we compare our solution approach with several scheduling heuristics from the relevant literature, generate managerial insights related to the impact of the number of nurses and chairs on appointment schedules, and estimate the value of stochastic solution to assess the significance of considering uncertainty.

Suggested Citation

  • Nur Banu Demir & Serhat Gul & Melih Çelik, 2021. "A stochastic programming approach for chemotherapy appointment scheduling," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 68(1), pages 112-133, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:navres:v:68:y:2021:i:1:p:112-133
    DOI: 10.1002/nav.21952
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    Cited by:

    1. Pilar I. Vidal-Carreras & Julio J. Garcia-Sabater & Juan A. Marin-Garcia, 2022. "Applying Value Stream Mapping to Improve the Delivery of Patient Care in the Oncology Day Hospital," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-18, April.
    2. Majed Hadid & Adel Elomri & Regina Padmanabhan & Laoucine Kerbache & Oualid Jouini & Abdelfatteh El Omri & Amir Nounou & Anas Hamad, 2022. "Clustering and Stochastic Simulation Optimization for Outpatient Chemotherapy Appointment Planning and Scheduling," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-34, November.
    3. Karakaya, Sırma & Gul, Serhat & Çelik, Melih, 2023. "Stochastic scheduling of chemotherapy appointments considering patient acuity levels," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 305(2), pages 902-916.
    4. Serhat Gul, 2024. "Nursing care flexibility in chemotherapy appointment scheduling," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 918-945, September.
    5. Çelik, Batuhan & Gul, Serhat & Çelik, Melih, 2023. "A stochastic programming approach to surgery scheduling under parallel processing principle," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).

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