Operating Rooms Optimization in a Cardiology Public School Hospital: The Joint and Sequential Use of the Models of Min and Belien

Abstract

This study uses joint and sequential models of Min and Belien to allocate elective cardiac patients in a finite number of operating rooms at any given day of the week, with particular medical staff, in a cardiology public school hospital. Currently, due to the process being empirical, most patients awaiting surgery are at a critical medical condition. The lack of systematic programming also causes a prolonged wait time for scheduling, which further aggravates the patient's condition and extends his or her stay in the hospital. With this, the risk of the patient collapsing and having to undergo an emergency surgery increases, leading to imbalance of the surgical center's routine and hindering the surgical program. The joint use of the two models provides a weekly schedule of surgeries, prioritizing patients by level of criticality and increasing the level of use of post-operative beds. Therefore, a reduction of 29% was obtained in quantities of beds needed to meet the demand of the surgical hospital. The daily and weekly occupancy of these beds was maintained, thus avoiding the oscillations between idleness and burden on the medical staff. This work has used mathematical models to focus on optimization of scheduling elective surgeries, with attention to the level of critically of patients present in the current waiting list for their surgeries.