Applied Mathematics Time: 2.00pm-4.00pm (Beijing Time), May 28th
Venue: MB537
Speaker: Prof. Yang Wang (Northwestern Polytechnical University)
Inviter: Dr. Min Wen
Title: Real-time scheduling of multi-test outpatient services: integrating appointment plans with operational uncertainties
Abstract: Efficient scheduling of diagnostic tests is critical to outpatient care, directly impacting hospital performance and patient satisfaction. Traditional scheduling approaches struggle to accommodate dynamic factors such as patient tardiness and variability in test durations. This study addresses the real-time scheduling problem for outpatients requiring multiple diagnostic tests (RTOMT) in a clinical appointment setting. At each decision point, the problem involves routing an idle patient to the next diagnostic test and assigning the next patient to an available device, with the objective of minimizing the total patient waiting time. To address this problem, we propose a Genetic Programming (GP) approach that integrates a simulation model, a basic rule set, and an evolutionary process. A dual-tree representation is employed to jointly encode patient-related routing decision and device-related assignment decision. Using real data from a partner hospital, we construct a set of benchmark instances and evaluate the proposed approach against both the hospital’s current scheduling practice and representative methods from the literature. Computational results demonstrate that the GP-based approach achieves substantial reductions in patient waiting time. We also investigate an extended scenario that introduces tardiness penalties to reflect common hospital policies. Finally, a real-world case study validates the effectiveness and practical applicability of the GP-generated scheduling rules.
Bio: Yang Wang is a Professor and Ph.D. Supervisor in the School of Management at Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU), China. As a recipient of the National Young Talent Program, she specializes in the modeling and optimization of complex production and healthcare systems. She has led three projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and published over 50 papers in prestigious international and domestic journals. Her academic excellence has been recognized with numerous provincial and ministerial awards, alongside her active service on several academic committees and editorial boards.
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