Literature Reviews / Literaturüberblicke

Providing the first literature review on physician scheduling, we present an overview focusing on problem specific features, e.g., type of problem, fairness considerations, and applied shift types, as well as quantitative solution approaches. We identify a total of 68 papers on physician scheduling from 1985, when the first paper was published, until the end of 2016 in the field of operations research and management science. Additionally, we conduct a descriptive analysis to discuss developments in physician scheduling literature in general, e.g., trends in the geographical background and the number of publications. Based on our analysis and the discussion of various cross-sectional and interaction effects, some promising directions for future research such as the implementation of breaks and flexibility in the scheduling process as well as the consideration of uncertainty and stochasticity in physician scheduling are identified.

Erhard, M., Schoenfelder, J., Fügener, A., Brunner, J.O. (2018). State of the art in physician scheduling. European Journal of Operational Research, 265(1), 1-18.

Link to tables

With our publication “The use of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in healthcare with a focus on hospitals” (Kohl et al., 2018) we provide an exhaustive literature overview in the field of DEA in healthcare. The paper reviews 262 publications of DEA applications in healthcare with special focus on hospitals and therefore closes a gap of over ten years (2005-2016) that were not covered by existing review articles. A variety of descriptive statistics on authors, countries and research questions are provided. Furthermore, our paper contains a description and analysis of the used input and output settings, the model specifications and the utilization of downstream techniques. Beyond the mere review part, the paper works as a roadmap to important methodological literature and publications, which provide crucial information on the setup of DEA studies. Finally, we discuss what could be done to advance DEA from a scientific tool to an instrument that is actually utilized by managers and policymakers.

Kohl, S., Schoenfelder, J., Fügener, A., & Brunner, J. O. (2018). The use of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in healthcare with a focus on hospitals. /Health care management science/, 1-42.

The main tables of the publication (table 5 and 6), as well as additional information on the model usage of all reviewed papers are summarized in the following database.

Link to tables

We present the state-of-the-art of research on material logistics management in hospitals. Particular focus is given to articles that apply quantitative methods. Our contribution is threefold: First, we provide research guidance through categorizing literature and identifying major research streams. Second, we discuss applied methodologies and third, we identify future research directions. A systematic approach is undertaken in order to identify the relevant literature from 1998 to 2014. Applicable publications are categorized thematically and methodologically and future research opportunities are worked out. In total, 145 publications are identified and discussed in this work. The literature is categorized into four streams, i.e., (1) Supply and procurement, (2) Inventory management, (3) Distribution and scheduling, and (4) Holistic supply chain management. The use of optimization techniques is constantly gaining importance. The number of respective publications has continually grown and has peaked over the last three years. Optimization has been successfully applied in research streams (1), (2), and (3). Category (4) comprises a rather qualitative research field of literature dealing with supply chain management issues.

Volland, J., Fügener, A., Schoenfelder, J., Brunner, J. O. (2017). Material logistics in hospitals: A literature review. Omega, vol. 69, pp. 82-101.

The intensive care unit (ICU) is a crucial and expensive resource largely affected by uncertainty and variability. Insufficient ICU capacity causes many negative effects not only in the ICU itself, but also in other connected departments along the patient care path. Operations research/management science (OR/MS) plays an important role in identifying ways to manage ICU capacities efficiently and in ensuring desired levels of service quality. As a consequence, numerous papers on the topic exist. The goal of this paper is to provide the first structured literature review on how OR/MS may support ICU management. We start our review by illustrating the important role the ICU plays in the hospital patient flow. Then we focus on the ICU management problem (single department management problem) and classify the literature from multiple angles, including decision horizons, problem settings, and modeling and solution techniques. Based on the classification logic, research gaps and opportunities are highlighted, e.g., combining bed capacity planning and personnel scheduling, modeling uncertainty with non-homogenous distribution functions, and exploring more efficient solution approaches.

Bai, J., Fügener, A., Schoenfelder, J., Brunner, J. O. (2018). Operations research in intensive care unit management: a literature review. Health Care Management Science, 21(1), 1-24.

The case mix planning problem deals with choosing the ideal composition and volume of patients in a hospital. With many countries having recently changed to systems where hospitals are reimbursed for patients according to their diagnosis, case mix planning has become an important tool in strategic and tactical hospital planning. Selecting patients in such a payment system can have a significant impact on a hospital’s revenue. The contribution of this article is to provide the first literature review focusing on the case mix planning problem. We describe the problem, distinguish it from similar planning problems, and evaluate the existing literature with regard to problem structure and managerial impact. Further, we identify gaps in the literature. We hope to foster research in the field of case mix planning, which only lately has received growing attention despite its fundamental economic impact on hospitals.

Hof, S., Fügener, A., Schoenfelder, J., Brunner, J.O. (2017). Case Mix Planning in Hospitals: A Review and Future Agenda. Health Care Management Science, 20(2), 207-220.