Research article

A sustainable scheduling system for medical equipment: Towards net zero goals for green healthcare

  • Received: 08 August 2023 Revised: 23 September 2023 Accepted: 26 September 2023 Published: 10 October 2023
  • Shortages of medical equipment, growth in medical waste and carbon emissions have increased healthcare pressures and has a huge impact on the environment. An efficient scheduling of medical equipment will effectively reduce the pressure on healthcare and improve the healthcare system's ability to respond to unexpected disasters. A medical equipment scheduling system was established to improve the sustainable utilization of medical equipment within the healthcare network and to reduce the carbon emissions of the healthcare process. First, this paper combines medical equipment information to establish a medical equipment scheduling decision model that considers pollution to filter qualified medical equipment for scheduling. Then, this paper constructs and solves a multi-objective robust optimization model by collecting the patient's travel information and the medical pressure information of each region. In addition, to meet dynamic healthcare needs, a dynamic medical equipment configuration framework was constructed to enhance the flexibility of equipment scheduling and the resilience of the healthcare network. Combined with case studies, the results show that the medical equipment scheduling system can help decision makers make quick scheduling decisions and achieve sustainable use of medical equipment, with a corresponding increase in medical equipment utilization of 12.25% and a reduction in carbon emissions of 26.50%. The study will help enhance healthcare resource utilization and contribute to the net-zero goal of green healthcare.

    Citation: Baotong Wu, Qi Tang. A sustainable scheduling system for medical equipment: Towards net zero goals for green healthcare[J]. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, 2023, 20(10): 18960-18986. doi: 10.3934/mbe.2023839

    Related Papers:

  • Shortages of medical equipment, growth in medical waste and carbon emissions have increased healthcare pressures and has a huge impact on the environment. An efficient scheduling of medical equipment will effectively reduce the pressure on healthcare and improve the healthcare system's ability to respond to unexpected disasters. A medical equipment scheduling system was established to improve the sustainable utilization of medical equipment within the healthcare network and to reduce the carbon emissions of the healthcare process. First, this paper combines medical equipment information to establish a medical equipment scheduling decision model that considers pollution to filter qualified medical equipment for scheduling. Then, this paper constructs and solves a multi-objective robust optimization model by collecting the patient's travel information and the medical pressure information of each region. In addition, to meet dynamic healthcare needs, a dynamic medical equipment configuration framework was constructed to enhance the flexibility of equipment scheduling and the resilience of the healthcare network. Combined with case studies, the results show that the medical equipment scheduling system can help decision makers make quick scheduling decisions and achieve sustainable use of medical equipment, with a corresponding increase in medical equipment utilization of 12.25% and a reduction in carbon emissions of 26.50%. The study will help enhance healthcare resource utilization and contribute to the net-zero goal of green healthcare.



    加载中


    [1] X. Mei, H. Hao, Y. Sun, X. Wang, Y. Zhou, Optimization of medical waste recycling network considering disposal capacity bottlenecks under a novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak, Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res., 29 (2022), 79669–79687. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16027-2 doi: 10.1007/s11356-021-16027-2
    [2] A. Fadaei, Comparison of medical waste management methods in different countries: a systematic review, Rev. Environ. Health, 38 (2022), 339–348. https://doi.org/10.1515/reveh-2021-0170 doi: 10.1515/reveh-2021-0170
    [3] A. Kang, L. Ren, C. Hua, H. Song, M. Dong, Z. Fang, et al., Environmental management strategy in response to COVID-19 in China: Based on text mining of government open information, Sci. Total Environ., 769 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145158 doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145158
    [4] L. Stenke, C. Hedman, M. L. Lindberg, K. Lindberg, J. Valentin, The acute radiation syndrome-need for updated medical guidelines, J. Radiol. Prot., 42 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6498/ac4ac6 doi: 10.1088/1361-6498/ac4ac6
    [5] K. Do, General Principles of Radiation Protection in Fields of Diagnostic Medical Exposure, J Korean Med. Sci., 31 (2016), S6–S9. https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2016.31.S1.S6 doi: 10.3346/jkms.2016.31.S1.S6
    [6] D. Pleban, J. Radosz, L. Kryst, J. Surgiewicz, Assessment of working conditions in medical facilities due to noise, Int. J. Occup. Saf. Ergon., 27 (2021), 1199–1206. https://doi.org/10.1080/10803548.2021.1987692 doi: 10.1080/10803548.2021.1987692
    [7] U. Weisz, P. Pichler, I. S. Jaccard, W. Haas, S. Matej, F. Bachner, et al., Carbon emission trends and sustainability options in Austrian health care, Resour. Conserv. Recycl., 160 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.104862 doi: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.104862
    [8] L. T. Dauer, R. H. Thornton, J. L. Hay, R. Balter, M. J. Williamson, J. St Germain, Fears, feelings, and facts: Interactively communicating benefits and risks of medical radiation with patients, Am. J. Roentgenol., 196 (2011), 756–761. https://doi.org/10.2214/AJR.10.5956 doi: 10.2214/AJR.10.5956
    [9] F. Omidvari, M. Jahangiri, R. Mehryar, M. Alimohammadlou, M. Kamalinia, Fire risk assessment in healthcare settings: Application of FMEA combined with multi-criteria decision making methods, Math. Probl. Eng., 2020 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/8913497 doi: 10.1155/2020/8913497
    [10] A. Mechtenberg, B. McLaughlin, M. DiGaetano, A. Awodele, L. Omeeboh, E. Etwalu, et al., Health care during electricity failure: The hidden costs, PLoS One, 15 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235760 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235760
    [11] A. Aachimi, F. Marc, N. Bonvallot, F. Clerc, The design of a matrix linking work situations to chemical health risk at the workplace, J. Occup. Environ. Hyg., 19 (2022), 157–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/15459624.2021.2023161 doi: 10.1080/15459624.2021.2023161
    [12] Y. Lee, Y. Y. Choi, M. Yang, Y. W. Jin, K. M. Seong, Risk perception of radiation emergency medical staff on low-dose radiation exposure: Knowledge is a critical factor, J. Environ. Radioact., 227 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2020.106502 doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2020.106502
    [13] Z. Wan, C. Liu, M. Zhang, J. Fu, B. Wang, S. Cheng, et al., Med-UniC: Unifying cross-lingual medical vision-language pre-training by diminishing bias, preprint, arXiv.org/abs/2305.19894
    [14] Y. Chen, C. Liu, W. Huang, S. Cheng, R. Arcucci, Z. Xiong, Generative text-guided 3D vision-language pretraining for unified medical image segmentation, preprint, arXiv.org/abs/2306.04811
    [15] C. Liu, S. Cheng, C. Chen, M. Qiao, W. Zhang, A. Shah, et al., M-FLAG: Medical vision-language pre-training with frozen language models and latent space geometry optimization, preprint, arXiv.org/abs/2307.08347
    [16] A. Holmner, K. L. Ebi, L. Lazuardi, M. Nilsson, Carbon footprint of telemedicine solutions- unexplored opportunity for reducing carbon emissions in the health sector, PLoS One, 9 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0105040 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0105040
    [17] P. M. Yellowlees, K. Chorba, M. B. Parish, H. Wynn-Jones, N. Nafiz, Telemedicine can make healthcare greener, Telemed. J. E-health, 16 (2010), 230–233. https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2009.0105 doi: 10.1089/tmj.2009.0105
    [18] M. Fragao-Marques, T. Ozben, Digital transformation and sustainability in healthcare and clinical laboratories, Clin. Chem. Lab. Med., 61 (2023), 627–633. https://doi.org/10.1515/cclm-2022-1092 doi: 10.1515/cclm-2022-1092
    [19] E. B. Lerner, R. M. Moscati, The golden hour: Scientific fact or medical 'urban legend'?, Acad. Emerg. Med., 8 (2001), 758–760. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1553-2712.2001.tb00201.x doi: 10.1111/j.1553-2712.2001.tb00201.x
    [20] Y. Feng, I. Wu, T. Chen, Stochastic resource allocation in emergency departments with a multi-objective simulation optimization algorithm, Health Care Manag. Sci., 20 (2017), 55–75. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10729-015-9335-1 doi: 10.1007/s10729-015-9335-1
    [21] F. Jiang, C. Shih, Y. Wang, C. Yang, Y. Chiang, C. Lee, Decision support for the optimization of provider staffing for hospital emergency departments with a queue-based approach, J. Clin. Med., 8 (2019). https://doi.org/10.3390/JCM8122154 doi: 10.3390/JCM8122154
    [22] Z. Chen, M. Sun, X. Han, Prediction-driven collaborative emergency medical resource allocation with deep learning and optimization, J. Oper. Res. Soc., 74 (2023), 590–603. https://doi.org/10.1080/01605682.2022.2101953 doi: 10.1080/01605682.2022.2101953
    [23] D. Olivia, C. Amrutha, A. Nayak, M. Balachandra, A. Saxena, Clinical severity level prediction based optimal medical resource allocation at mass casualty incident, IEEE Access, 10 (2022), 88970–88984. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3200489 doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3200489
    [24] F. Yan, N. Huang, Y. Zhang, How can the layout of public service facilities be optimized to reduce travel-related carbon emissions? Evidence from Changxing County, China, Land, 11 (2022). https://doi.org/10.3390/land110812000 doi: 10.3390/land110812000
    [25] D. Forner, C. Purcell, V. Taylor, C. W. Noel, L. Pan, M. H. Rigby, et al., Carbon footprint reduction associated with a surgical outreach clinic, J. Otolaryngol. Neck Surg., 50 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40463-021-00510-4 doi: 10.1186/s40463-021-00510-4
    [26] R. Wootton, A. Tait, A. Croft, Environmental aspects of health care in the Grampian NHS region and the place of telehealth, J. Telemed. Telecare, 16 (2010), 215–220. https://doi.org/10.1258/JTT.2010.004015 doi: 10.1258/JTT.2010.004015
    [27] S. Blenkinsop, A. Foley, N. Schneider, J. Willis, H. J. Fowler, S. M. Sisodiya, Carbon emission savings and short-term health care impacts from telemedicine: An evaluation in epilepsy, Epilepsia, 62 (2021), 2732–2740. https://doi.org/10.1111/epi.17046 doi: 10.1111/epi.17046
    [28] A. W. Emeryk, T. Sosnowski, M. Kupczyk, P. Sliwinski, J. Zajdel-Calkowska, T. M. Zielonka, et al., Impact of inhalers used in the treatment of respiratory diseases on global warming, Adv. Respir. Med., 89 (2021), 427–438. https://doi.org/10.5603/ARM.a2021.0092 doi: 10.5603/ARM.a2021.0092
    [29] C. Richie, Environmental sustainability and the carbon emissions of pharmaceuticals, J. Med. Ethics, 48 (2022), 334–337. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2020-106842 doi: 10.1136/medethics-2020-106842
    [30] Y. Wen, L. Liu, Comparative study on low-carbon strategy and government subsidy model of pharmaceutical supply chain, Sustainability, 15 (2023). https://doi.org/10.3390/su15108345 doi: 10.3390/su15108345
    [31] H. L. Li, K. Xiong, X. M. Xie, Multiobjective contactless delivery on medical supplies under open-loop distribution, Math. Probl. Eng., 2021 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/9986490 doi: 10.1155/2021/9986490
    [32] J. J. X. Chia, M. H. Goh, M. M. Goh, C. W. S. Teo, K. H. Tan, D. W. Sewa, et al., Contamination of the central medical air supply with water leading to mass ventilator failure, Anaesth Rep., 11 (2023), e12239–e12239. https://doi.org/10.1002/anr3.12239 doi: 10.1002/anr3.12239
    [33] R. Halabi, G. Smith, M. Sylwestrzak, B. Clay, C. A. Longhurst, L. Lander, The impact of inpatient telemedicine on personal protective equipment savings during the COVID-19 pandemic: Cross-sectional study, J. Med. Int. Res., 23 (2021). https://doi.org/10.2196/28845 doi: 10.2196/28845
    [34] G. Vairaktarakis, Robust multi-item newsboy models with a budget constraint, Int. J. Prod. Econ., 66 (2000), 213–226. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0925-5273(99)00129-2 doi: 10.1016/S0925-5273(99)00129-2
    [35] M. Yang, L. Jia, W. Y. Xie, T. Gao, Research on risk assessment model of epidemic diseases in a certain region based on markov chain and AHP, IEEE Access, 9 (2021), 75826–75839. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3081720 doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3081720
    [36] Z. Liu, L. Lang, L. Li, Y. Zhao, L. Shi, Evolutionary game analysis on the recycling strategy of household medical device enterprises under government dynamic rewards and punishments, Math. Biosci. Eng., 18 (2021), 6434–6451. https://doi.org/10.3934/mbe.2021320 doi: 10.3934/mbe.2021320
    [37] P. Grzegorzewski, Distances between intuitionistic fuzzy sets and/or interval-valued fuzzy sets based on the Hausdorff metric, Fuzzy Sets Syst., 148 (2004), 319–328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fss.2003.08.005 doi: 10.1016/j.fss.2003.08.005
    [38] J. Y. Choi, S. H. Byeon, Case study: Safety assessment of plant layout between ethylene storage tanks and process equipment according to capacity and weather conditions, Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 17 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17082849 doi: 10.3390/ijerph17082849
    [39] W. O. Batista, M. R. Soares, J. M. G. Rios, A. C. D. Souza, I. M. Pinherio, J. L. J. V. Ramirez, et al., Assessment of scattered radiation from hand-held dental x-ray equipment using the Monte Carlo method, J. Radiol. Prot., 41 (2021), 654–668. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6498/abf3cd doi: 10.1088/1361-6498/abf3cd
    [40] J. H. Han, D. J. Yeom, J. S. Kim, Y. S. Kim, Life cycle cost analysis of the steel pipe pile head cutting robot, Sustain, 12 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3390/su12103975 doi: 10.3390/su12103975
    [41] H. Liu, X. Shi, X. Chen, Y. Liu, Management of life extension for topsides process system of offshore platforms in Chinese Bohai Bay, J. Loss Prev. Process Ind., 35 (2015), 357–365. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jlp.2014.12.002 doi: 10.1016/j.jlp.2014.12.002
    [42] L. Abdullah, C. Goh, N. Zamri, M. Othman, Application of interval valued intuitionistic fuzzy TOPSIS for flood management, J. Intell. Fuzzy Syst., 38 (2020), 873–881. https://doi.org/10.3233/JIFS-179455 doi: 10.3233/JIFS-179455
    [43] Q. Tang, B. Wu, Multilayer game collaborative optimization based on elman neural network system diagnosis in shared manufacturing mode, Comput. Intell. Neurosci., 2022 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/6135970 doi: 10.1155/2022/6135970
    [44] Q. Tang, B. Wu, W. Chen, J. Yue, A digital twin-assisted collaborative capability optimization model for smart manufacturing system based on Elman-IVIF-TOPSIS, IEEE Access, 11 (2023), 40540–40564. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3269577 doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3269577
    [45] M. Hu, X. Xu, X. Li, T. Che, Managing patients' no-show behaviour to improve the sustainability of hospital appointment systems: Exploring the conscious and unconscious determinants of no-show behaviour, J. Clean Prod., 269 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.122318 doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.122318
    [46] M. Erdem, Designing a sustainable logistics network for hazardous medical waste collection a case study in COVID-19 pandemic, J. Clean Prod., 376 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134192 doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134192
    [47] J. Alipour, Y. Mehdipour, A. Karimi, M. Khorashadizadeh, M. Akbarpour, Security, confidentiality, privacy and patient safety in the hospital information systems from the users' perspective: A cross-sectional study, Int. J. Med. Inform., 175 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2023.105066 doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2023.105066
  • Reader Comments
  • © 2023 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com
  • 1. 

    沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院 沈阳 110142

  1. 本站搜索
  2. 百度学术搜索
  3. 万方数据库搜索
  4. CNKI搜索

Metrics

Article views(762) PDF downloads(49) Cited by(0)

Article outline

Figures and Tables

Figures(8)  /  Tables(4)

Other Articles By Authors

/

DownLoad:  Full-Size Img  PowerPoint
Return
Return

Catalog