JULIA SOPHIE BLOCK, LISA IMHOFF, MATTHIAS SCHACHT, BRIGITTE WERNERS: OPTIMIZATION AND EVALUATION OF APPOINTMENT SCHEDULE BLUEPRINTS FOR GROUP PRACTICES
ABSTRACT
Patients in Europe usually visit a general practitioner (GP) as first point of contact in case of illness.
GPs are responsible for diagnostic and curative services as well as disease prevention which attaches
them a key role in primary health care. Therefore, their limited time has to be well utilized in order
to fulfill requirements of their patients and the GPs themselves. These requirements include enough
time for urgent treatment, low direct and indirect waiting times to see the GP as well as less overtime
and a balanced workload throughout the week. This contribution seeks to find and analyze optimal
appointment schedule blueprints for group practices in order to give general advise how to schedule
appointments based upon the practices’ characteristics. In this study, patients are assumed to want to
be generally treated as early as possible, but can be convinced to book an appointment with their
preferred GP if their request is not as urgent. Hence, by adequately offering appointments for the
patients, demand can be channeled in order to fulfill all stakeholders’ interests.