Research Article

Resource Allocation and Outpatient Appointment Scheduling Using Simulation Optimization

Table 2

Operational information and parameters in an outpatient (block) appointment system.

Patients
 Number of appointments per session
 Number of patient classes
 Set of patient class and distribution
 Number of paths by patient class
 Set of paths by patient class
 Distribution of visitors per patient
Patient punctuality
 Probability of arriving early/late
 Distribution of earliness by patient class
 Distribution of tardiness by patient class
Resources
 Resource groups (resource units in group)
 Available start time by resource unit
 (Initial) allocation plan of resource units to procedures
 Skill set by resource unit
Procedures
 Number of procedures
 Set of procedures, operating mode and capacity (single/batch)
 Procedure duration by patient class
 Movement time between successive procedures (including record handling)
Operating environment
 Duration of appointment session
 Number of time blocks in appointment session
 Start time of time blocks
Appointment schedule
 (Initial) distribution of appointments by time block
 Minimum number of appointments per time block