Admission scheduling in acute care hospitals: does the practice fit with the theory?

Admission scheduling is identified as an important strategy to match supply and demand in acute care hospitals During the last decades, many different theoretical models of admission scheduling have been developed, but only a few of them have reached the stage of implementation. Several authors have given some indication that there may be a gap between theory and practice of admission scheduling. In this study we try to describe this gap using a two-stage research methodology: an extensive literature review in order to determine the theoretical functional requirements for a system that supports the admission scheduling decision and a telephone survey in order to learn more about the admission scheduling practice in Belgian hospitals. The study finds a large gap between the theoretical requirements and the practical application of admission scheduling in hospitals. In summary, most hospitals have not worked out an admission scheduling Policy indicating which resources are critical in the scheduling process and how information on the availability of these resources can be captured.