Abstract
Outpatient scheduling is considered as a complex problem. Efficient solutions to this problem are required by many health care facilities. This paper proposes an efficient approach to outpatient scheduling by specifying a bidding method and converting it to a group role assignment problem. The proposed approach is validated by conducting simulations and experiments with randomly generated patient requests for available time slots. The major contribution of this paper is an efficient outpatient scheduling approach making automatic outpatient scheduling practical. The exciting result is due to the consideration of outpatient scheduling as a collaborative activity and the creation of a qualification matrix in order to apply the group role assignment algorithm.
Note to Practitioners-As the "Age Wave" approaches, health care facilities are becoming relatively scarce worldwide compared with what are demanded. The varying availability, requirements, and preferences of both facilities and outpatients make the problem of scheduling outpatient appointments on health care facilities extremely challenging. Traditional manually operated scheduling systems based on phone calls are out of date although they are still widely used due to lack of new effective scheduling systems. To solve such a problem requires an efficient Web-based system to schedule the appointments instantly. The proposed approach provides a technical foundation for efficient Web-based scheduling systems, which can be applied directly to not only outpatient scheduling in the health care sector, but also in some other real-world scheduling applications.