On the occasion of the PhD defense of Wim Vancroonenburg, Prof. Stefan Nickel (Karslruhe Institute of Technology) will give a lecture about “Selected topics from Health Care Logistics“.

Abstract: Healthcare logistics addresses the efficient planning, realization and control of patient-, material- and information-flow within the healthcare sector. Therefore, the use of OR methods plays a crucial role in healthcare logistics. However, the unique feature in this field of application is to not only put emphasis upon the economic efficiency but also to take into account the quality of care and patient satisfaction. Accordingly, the medical competence is never interfered in.

Clinical pathways should determine an optimal sequence and schedule for the patient’s treatment with the objective of minimizing delays and resource utilization while maximizing the quality of care. To reach this goal, logistics aspects on different hierarchical levels as hospital layout planning (strategic), appointment planning (tactical) and patient transportation (operational) have to be integrated into the clinical pathway.

In this talk, we give an overview on how OR methods can be used in order to support process optimization in healthcare organizations. We focus on healthcare logistics applications arising in different healthcare sectors and dealing with different time scales. Examples include:

•             Hospital layout planning

•             Appointment planning

•             Patient transportation

•             Ambulance location

•             Home health care.

Both, OR models and numerical results will be presented.