A usecase in outpatientclinicplanning
Hospitals are under pressure: more patients, more complex care, and a growing admin- istrative workload. During this design study an intelligent system that helps hospital staff plan outpatient clinic appointmentsmore efficientlywas developed. The systemcaptures the knowledge of experts, such as doctors and planners, and translates it into a structure that a computer can understand and use. The system was tested at an outpatient clinic of UMC Utrecht and was able to make the same planning decisions as experienced staff. It also visualizes why certain choices are made, which increases user trust in the system. Moreover, the system was designed to be generically applicable to similar clinical and operational processes in hospitals, such as medication validation or diagnostics. This means that, over time, these processes can be carried out more efficiently, leading to reduced workload, maintaining accessible and high-quality care, and making optimal use of the valuable knowledge of our experts.