Evaluation of a Multi-Agent System for Hospital Patient Scheduling

: The problem of patient scheduling in hospitals is characterized by high uncertainty and dynamics in patient treatments. Additional complexity in the planning and coordination processes is caused due to interdependencies of autonomous and administratively distinct units which are involved in the treatment of a patient. For real-world scheduling scenarios traditional scheduling methods are often either too limited in their expressive power regarding the representation of real-world problems or fail in solving real-sized problems in a timely fashion. In contrast, multi-agent systems are a promising approach to overcome these restrictions. This paper extends previous evaluations a multi-agent system for patient scheduling and studies a close-to-reality testing environment. The scenario is based on a field study and includes the interplay of multiple sources of uncertainty to evaluate the applicability of our approach in practice. The experimental results show that the evaluated multi-age...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2006
• Where: ITSSA
• Authors: Anja Zöller, Lars Braubach, Alexander Pokahr, Franz Rothlauf, Torsten O. Paulussen, Winfried Lamersdorf, Armin Heinzl
• Keywords: ITSSA 2006, Multi-agent System, Patient Scheduling, Real-world Scheduling Scenarios