A goal-programming approach to the master surgical scheduling problem

In this paper, we propose a mixed integer goal-programming model to support the master surgical scheduling process. In order to comply with the process stakehold-ers, the objective function comprises four criteria, namely (i) the respect of the pa-tients’ priorities, (ii) the balancing of the utilisation of the operating rooms, (iii) the balancing of the utilisation of the post-surgical units and (iv) the maximisation of the number of scheduled surgeries. The model is tested on real data coming from a leading Italian hospital. The results of the preliminary numerical experiments show how the model allows obtaining reasonable trade-off among the considered objectives.