Understanding and Improving Patient Flow in Outpatient Clinics and Emergency Departments

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dc.contributor.advisorBischak, Diane P.
dc.contributor.advisorMenezes, Mozart B. C.
dc.contributor.authorZaerpour, Farzad
dc.contributor.committeememberBijvank, Marco
dc.contributor.committeememberPandes, J. Ari
dc.contributor.committeememberCarter, Michael W.
dc.contributor.committeememberSabouri, Alireza
dc.date2018-11
dc.date.accessioned2018-07-20T17:08:33Z
dc.date.available2018-07-20T17:08:33Z
dc.date.issued2018-07-19
dc.description.abstractImproving patient flow is a critical aspect of quality management in emergency departments and other healthcare settings. By improving the flow of patients in healthcare facilities, we can decrease wait times and boost patient and staff satisfaction. Many patients face physical pain and suffering while waiting for treatment in healthcare facilities. Long wait times may also result in treatable illnesses and injuries becoming chronic conditions. This dissertation includes three main chapters, corresponding to three essays on understanding and improving patient flow in outpatient clinics and emergency departments. In some outpatient clinics, lab tests must be completed before the clinic appointment, as doctors need to have the test results when seeing a patient. Achieving this tight coordination of a patient's testing and his or her subsequent doctor's appointment may be difficult in a facility where many physicians share the same testing resources. The second chapter presents a mixed-integer programming (MIP)-based approach to reduce the likelihood of a patient not completing testing in time for the clinic appointment. In the third chapter, we focus on improving patient flow in emergency departments by looking at the physician scheduling problem. We show that the scheduling of physicians has a direct impact on the waiting time of patients. Chapter 4 presents a new crowding measure in emergency departments that is based on patient volume and mix of patients. We assess the relevance and significance of the proposed measure.en_US
dc.identifier.citationZaerpour, F. (2018). Understanding and Improving Patient Flow in Outpatient Clinics and Emergency Departments (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/32653en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/32653
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/107471
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisher.facultyGraduate Studies
dc.publisher.facultyHaskayne School of Business
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.publisher.placeCalgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subjectPatient Flow
dc.subjectOperations Research
dc.subjectOutpatient Clinics
dc.subjectEmergency Departments
dc.subjectWait Times
dc.subject.classificationHealth Care Managementen_US
dc.subject.classificationEngineering--Operations Researchen_US
dc.titleUnderstanding and Improving Patient Flow in Outpatient Clinics and Emergency Departments
dc.typedoctoral thesis
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgary
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrue
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