Maintaining Fairness in Stochastic Chemotherapy Scheduling

Asst. Prof. Dr. Serhat Gül, Department of Industrial Engineering, TED University

Abstract

Chemotherapy scheduling is hard to manage under uncertainty in infusion durations, and focusing on expected performance measure values may lead to unfavorable outcomes for some patients. In this study, we aim to design daily patient appointment schedules considering a fair environment regarding patient waiting times. We propose using a metric that encourages fairness and efficiency in waiting time allocations. To optimize this metric, we formulate a two-stage stochastic mixed-integer nonlinear programming model. We employ a binary search algorithm to identify the optimal schedule, and then propose a modified binary search algorithm (MBSA) to enhance computational capability. Moreover, to address stochastic feasibility problems at each MBSA iteration, we introduce a novel reduce-and- augment algorithm that utilizes scenario set reduction and augmentation methods. We use real data from a major oncology hospital to show the efficacy of MBSA. We compare the schedules identified by MBSA with both the baseline schedules from the oncology hospital and those generated by commonly employed scheduling heuristics. Finally, we highlight the significance of considering uncertainty in infusion durations to maintain fairness while creating appointment schedules.

Short Bio

Serhat Gül completed his Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering at Arizona State University in 2010 and 2007, respectively, and earned his B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from Sabancı University in 2006. He has been a faculty member at TED University since 2014. In 2023-2024, he served as a visiting assistant professor at the Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Prior to joining TED University, Dr. Gül was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Healthcare Systems Engineering Institute at Northeastern University and an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology. He also held a visiting faculty position at Sabancı University.

Dr. Gül's primary research interests lie in stochastic optimization and its applications to healthcare delivery systems. His work has been published in journals such as Informs JOC, POM, EJOR, NRL, Omega, Service Science, and FSMJ.

Venue

Friday, December 20th, 2024, 4:00 pm
IE Building, Halim Doğrusöz Auditorium (Ground Floor-03)

English

Announcement Category