Surgical operating theater scheduling: From Discrete-Event Systems point of view

Abstract

This paper addresses the decision-making problem of surgical operations scheduling in healthcare systems. The problem involves arranging elective surgeries with assigned intervention dates under the constraint of limited resources such as operating rooms and surgeons. In the present work, we tackle this problem in the point of view of Discrete Event Systems. Our objective is to model and analyze the healthcare systems using two complementary formalisms Timed Colored Petri Nets (TCPN) and (max, ＋) Algebra. To this end, we first develop a TCPN model that represents and studies the behavior of patient care flow. This model allows us to evaluate the performance of the system. Based on the TCPN model, we develop (max, ＋) equations that represent the system behavior using linear mathematical equations. These equations help calculate easily the occurrence dates of surgery activities. Thanks to (max, +) theory we propose a provisional schedule of elective interventions. We show that (max, ＋) powerful lies in its ability to calculate the beginning date and end date of each surgical operation, taking into account limited human and material resources. An illustrative example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.