title: Operations research in intensive care unit management: a literature review.
abstract: 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.
authors: Universitäres Zentrum für Gesundheitswissenschaften am Klinikum Augsburg (UNIKA-T), Universitätsstraße 16, 86159, Augsburg, Germany.|School of Business and Economics, University of Augsburg, Universitätsstraße 16, 86159, Augsburg, Germany.
authors: Jie
authors: J
authors: Bai
authors: Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Science, University of Cologne, Albertus-Magnus-Platz, 50923, Köln, Germany. andreas.fuegener@uni-koeln.de.
authors: Andreas
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4580-7444
authors: A
authors: Fügener
authors: Universitäres Zentrum für Gesundheitswissenschaften am Klinikum Augsburg (UNIKA-T), Universitätsstraße 16, 86159, Augsburg, Germany.|School of Business and Economics, University of Augsburg, Universitätsstraße 16, 86159, Augsburg, Germany.
authors: Jan
authors: J
authors: Schoenfelder
authors: Universitäres Zentrum für Gesundheitswissenschaften am Klinikum Augsburg (UNIKA-T), Universitätsstraße 16, 86159, Augsburg, Germany.|School of Business and Economics, University of Augsburg, Universitätsstraße 16, 86159, Augsburg, Germany.
authors: Jens O
authors: JO
authors: Brunner
mesh_terms: D006739:Hospital Administration; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009874:Operations Research; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D000078329:Workforce
keywords: Capacity management; Health care; Intensive care unit; Management science; Operations research