Context-Aware Scheduling and Allocation System
Description
Literature shows that 67 % of elective surgery cancellations are due to bad planning. The majority of the cancellations due to bad planning are related to lack of capacity (e.g. human resources and ward beds), walk-in patients (i.e. emergency surgeries), higher duration of previous surgeries, and overbooking.
The use of context-based data will be studied in the framework of the clinical workflows and patient pathways involved in the scheduling process. It is expected that context data on the actual performance can be gathered using qualitative methods in order to adapt clinical guidelines to a specific organisation, department, or individual. In an automated manner, such data on actual performance can be made by way of context-aware methods. This will generate the knowledge required to describe patient and user pathways in an integrated and coherent manner in order to ensure process support at the individual level within the electronic health record.
This knowledge, when applied to the patient admission scheduling and resource allocation problem in surgical departments, contributes to health services sustainability by reducing the number of elective surgery cancellations and improving the usage of organisation resources.