598 / 2024-04-26 16:05:56

Outpatient Appointment Scheduling with (Stochastic) Multiple Same-Day Re-entrants

Outpatient Appointment Scheduling,Mohs Micrographic Surgery,Stochastic Re-Entrant

Re-entrance occurs when a patient repeats upstream processes during a single visit to the doctor. This study investigates the appointment scheduling of outpatients who may require stochastic, multiple re-entrances, and this is motivated by the Mohs Micrographic (Outpatient) Surgery for skin cancers. We develop SMART, a stochastic slot model that encapsulates the multi-stage nature of the service process, stochastic re-entrances, and heterogeneous no-show rates. We also propose a sequential scheduling algorithm designed for dynamic appointment requests. This algorithm efficiently balances patient waiting times, clinic overtime, and patient throughput, while accounting for stochastic complications.