An efficient divide-and-conquer enhanced metaheuristic for operating room scheduling: A real-world case study

Key Points

• This research aims to improve operating room scheduling using an efficient metaheuristic approach.
• Developed an ILP model incorporating block consistency, idle times, and setup-dependent times.
• Applied a Divide-and-Conquer ILS method for scheduling optimization against global approaches.
• Conducted a comprehensive benchmark and sensitivity analysis using real-world data.
• Demonstrated that the Divide-and-Conquer ILS outperforms global optimization approaches under strict constraints.
• Establishes robustness and generality through extensive benchmarking.
• Real data validation indicates significant improvements over current scheduling practices.