C.2: Reduction of idle times of MRI systems in radiology departments through the use of AI-based scheduling software - MRIdle
Context and goals
Contact: Prof Dr Michael Krauthammer (UZH)
When patients do not turn up for their appointments, this causes problems for everyone involved. The patient misses a treatment, the hospital loses time and wastes resources, and for other patients treatment is unnecessarily delayed. We can illustrate the frequency of no-shows for an examination appointment with the following example: in a radiology department, the rate of no-shows (patients do not turn up for an appointment or postpone it at very short notice) for MRI appointments is around 10-20%. This means that the equipment is underutilised and patients have to wait longer than perhaps necessary for an appointment.
The aim of this project is to support the radiology department at the USZ in reducing the number of unattended appointments. To do this, a statistical model is used to predict which patients have a higher risk of not turning up for their appointments and proactively try to prevent a potential no-show.
Planned results
The first outcome will be to develop a model that can predict with a satisfactory degree of accuracy whether a patient will not attend an appointment. This model will be created using the appointment history of the last 5 years in the radiology department.
Once this goal has been achieved, we will then carry out an intervention study in the radiology department. This would involve conducting an A-B test where scheduling staff contact patients who, according to the model, are unlikely to turn up for an upcoming appointment. The effect of this measure will then be compared to a control group - in the hope that we can see a reduction in no-show rates among the patients contacted.
We will also develop a prototype software tool to help scheduling staff get a clearer picture of the likelihood of no-shows in the future, allowing them to proactively schedule appointments and increase scheduling efficiency.
Contribution to overall innovation
Apart from the immediate outcome of increasing the efficiency of the MRI equipment in the radiology department, another aspect of this project is that it could serve as a proof-of-concept and lead to similar projects in other departments of the hospital. If it could be shown that proactive measures are effective in the radiology department, then there is no reason why these ideas could not be transferred to other departments of the hospital to improve the overall efficiency of the hospital, which in turn can increase the quality of patient care.
