IIE Transactions on Healthcare Systems Engineering 

About: IIE Transactions on Healthcare Systems Engineering is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Health care & Outpatient clinic. It has an ISSN identifier of 1948-8300. Over the lifetime, 111 publications have been published receiving 1889 citations.

Measuring workload of icu nurses with a questionnaire survey: the nasa task load index (tlx).

Abstract: High workload of nurses in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) has been identified as a major patient safety and worker stress problem. However, relative little attention has been dedicated to the measurement of workload in healthcare. The objectives of this study are to describe and examine several methods to measure workload of ICU nurses. We then focus on the measurement of ICU nurses' workload using a subjective rating instrument: the NASA TLX.We conducted secondary data analysis on data from two, multi-side, cross-sectional questionnaire studies to examine several instruments to measure ICU nurses' workload. The combined database contains the data from 757 ICU nurses in 8 hospitals and 21 ICUs.Results show that the different methods to measure workload of ICU nurses, such as patient-based and operator-based workload, are only moderately correlated, or not correlated at all. Results show further that among the operator-based instruments, the NASA TLX is the most reliable and valid questionnaire to measure workload and that NASA TLX can be used in a healthcare setting. Managers of hospitals and ICUs can benefit from the results of this research as it provides benchmark data on workload experienced by nurses in a variety of ICUs.

Chemotherapy Operations Planning and Scheduling

Abstract: Chemotherapy operations planning and scheduling in oncology clinics is a complex problem due to several factors such as the cyclic nature of chemotherapy treatment plans, the high variability in resource requirements (treatment time, nurse time, pharmacy time) and the multiple clinic resources involved. Treatment plans are made by oncologists for each patient according to existing chemotherapy protocols or clinical trials. It is important to strictly adhere to the patient’s optimal treatment plan to achieve the best health outcomes. However, it is typically difficult to attain strict adherence for every patient due to side effects of chemotherapy drugs and limited resources in the clinics. In this study, our aim is to develop operations planning and scheduling methods for chemotherapy patients with the objective of minimizing the deviation from optimal treatment plans due to limited availability of clinic resources (beds/chairs, nurses, pharmacists). Mathematical programming models are developed to solve ...

Operations research/management contributions to emergency department patient flow optimization: Review and research prospects

Abstract: In recent years, Operations Research/Management (OR/OM) has had a significant impact on improving the performance of hospital Emergency Departments (EDs). This includes improving a wide range of processes involving patient flow from the initial call to the ED through disposition, discharge home, or admission to the hospital. We review approximately 350 related papers to (i) demonstrate the influence of OR/OM in EDs, and (ii) assist both researchers and practitioners with the OR/OM techniques already available to optimize ED patient flow. In addition, we elaborate on some practical challenges yet to be addressed. By shedding light on some less studied aspects that can have significant impacts on ED operations, we also discuss important possibilities for future OR/OM researchers.

Sociotechnical systems analysis in health care: a research agenda

Abstract: Given the complexity of health care and the 'people' nature of healthcare work and delivery, STSA (Sociotechnical Systems Analysis) research is needed to address the numerous quality of care problems observed across the world. This paper describes open STSA research areas, including workload management, physical, cognitive and macroergonomic issues of medical devices and health information technologies, STSA in transitions of care, STSA of patient-centered care, risk management and patient safety management, resilience, and feedback loops between event detection, reporting and analysis and system redesign.

The minimum p-envy location problem: a new model for equitable distribution of emergency resources

Abstract: Equity is an important consideration in public services such as Emergency Medical Service (EMS) systems. In such systems not only equitability but also performance depends on the spatial distribution of facilities and resources. This paper proposes the minimum p-envy facility location model which aims to find optimal locations for facilities in order to balance customers’ perceptions of equity in receiving service. The model is developed and evaluated through the lens of EMS systems, where ambulances are located at facilities (stations) with the objective of minimizing the sum of “envy” among all demand zones (customer points) with respect to an ordered set of p operating stations weighted by the proportion of demand in each zone. The problem is formulated as an integer program, with priority weights assigned according the probability that an ambulance is available, which is estimated using the hypercube model. Because of the computational effort required to obtain solutions using commercially available s...