Patient Transport in Hospitals: A Literature Review of Operations Research and Management Science Methods

TL;DR

This paper reviews Operations Research and Management Science methods for intra-hospital patient transport, highlighting current practices, identifying research gaps, and proposing future research directions to improve efficiency and patient satisfaction.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive literature review of OR/MS approaches for hospital patient transport, introduces a notation for problem variants, and compares academic methods with hospital practices.

Findings

Current hospital practices differ from research models

Significant research gaps in practical implementation

Future research should focus on real-world applicability

Abstract

Most activities in hospitals require the presence of the patient. Delays in patient transport can disrupt operations, potentially resulting in idle staff, underutilized equipment, and postponed procedures, which in turn lead to lost revenue, unnecessary costs across many different areas and departments, and lower patient satisfaction. Consequently, patient transport planning is a central operational task in hospitals. This paper provides the first literature review of Operations Research and Management Science approaches for non-emergency, intra-hospital patient transport. We structure the different patient transport problems considered in the literature according to several main characteristics and introduce a five-field notation that allows for a concise representation of different problem variants. We then analyze the relevant literature with respect to different aspects related to the considered problem variant, the employed modeling and solution techniques, as well as the data used and the level of practical implementation achieved. Based on our literature analysis and semi-structured interviews with hospital practitioners, we compare current hospital practices and the existing literature, identify research gaps, and formulate an agenda for relevant future research.