A dynamic approach to surgical scheduling.
A mixed integer programming (MIP) formulation is presented that simultaneously tackles operating theatre (OT) planning and scheduling problems through the combined Master Surgical Scheduling (MSS) and Surgical Case Assignment (SCA) problems. We consider stochastic surgical durations and non-elective arrivals whilst applying a dynamic approach to adjust the schedule after cancellations, equipment failure, or new arrivals on the waiting list. The model is based on an Australian public hospital with a large surgical department. Significant detail is included in the formulation to provide practitioners with a model that can be implemented in hospitals. We show that good feasible solutions can be provided in short amounts of computational time with hyper metaheuristics. A dynamic approach is used to show how schedule predictability affects patient throughput. It was found that the use of a two-week schedule increases patient throughput and can help reduce waiting lists.