From the Preface:

Collectively, the chapters in this book address application domains including inpatient and outpatient services, public health networks, supply chain management, and resource constrained settings in developing countries. Many of the chapters provide specific examples or case studies illustrating the applications of operations research methods across the globe, including Africa, Australia, Belgium, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Chapters 1-4 review operations research methods that are most commonly applied to health care operations management including: queuing, simulation, and mathematical programming. Chapters 5-7 address challenges related to inpatient services in hospitals such as surgery, intensive care units, and hospital wards. Chapters 8-10 cover outpatient services, the fastest growing part of many health systems, and describe operations research models for primary and specialty care services, and how to plan for patient no-shows. Chapters 12 - 16 cover topics related to the broader integration of health services in the context of public health, including optimizing the location of emergency vehicles, planning for mass vaccination events, and the coordination among different parts of a health system. Chapters 17-18 address supply chain management within hospitals, with a focus on pharmaceutical supply management, and the challenges of managing inventory for nursing units. Finally, Chapters 19-20 provide examples of important and emerging research in the realm of humanitarian logistics.

Inhalt

Improving Access to Healthcare: Models of Adaptive Behavior.- Queueing Models for Healthcare Operations.- Applications of Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation to Healthcare Operations Management.- Optimization in Healthcare Delivery Modeling: Methods and Applications.- Operating Room Planning and Scheduling.- The Modeling, Analysis, and Management of Intensive Care Units.- Improving the Flow of Patients through Healthcare Organizations.- Capacity Allocation and Flexibility in Primary Care.- Improving Scheduling and Flow in Complex Outpatient Clinics.- No-show Modeling for Adult Ambulatory Clinics.- Simulation and Real-time Optimized Relocation for Improving Ambulance Operations.- Planning and Managing Mass Prophylaxis Clinic Operations.- Emergency Departments: Repairs While You Wait, No Appointment Necessary.- Location Models in Health Care.- Models and Methods for Improving Patient Access.- Coordinating Health Services: An Operations Management Perspective.- Managing Supply Critical to Patient Care: An Introduction to Hospital Inventory Management for Pharmaceuticals.- The Challenges of Hospital Supply Chain Management, from Central Stores to Nursing Units.- Overcoming the Challenges of the Last Mile: A Model of Riders for Health.- Allocating Scarce Healthcare Resources in Developing Countries: A Case for Malaria Prevention