Abstract:  In order to allocate doctor resources reasonably, minimize outpatient waiting time, and improve patient experience and hospital operation efficiency, a simulated annealing based outpatient waiting time minimization scheduling algorithm is proposed. This algorithm is based on queuing theory to predict the length of outpatient waiting queues and the waiting time per unit time period, and to define a scheduling optimization decision function with the goal of minimizing waiting time. To ensure the feasibility and rationality of the decision-making objectives, multi-dimensional constraints are embedded in the algorithm, including constraints on doctors’ working time and doctor skill matching. Simulated annealing algorithm is introduced to solve the decision function and output the optimal scheduling plan through a Markov chain that iteratively generates new solutions, determines, accepts, and discards. The experimental results show that after simulating annealing algorithm scheduling, the waiting time of patients can be controlled within 16 minutes, providing practical reference for doctors’ scientific scheduling.

Key words: simulated annealing, outpatient waiting, time minimization, scheduling plan