A semi-online algorthm for optimizing the pre-disinfection duration of medical devices in a hospital sterilization service
Résumé
After utilization in operating theaters, medical devices (MDs) are sent to the sterilization service. The sterilization process is made up of various steps. After pre-disinfection, different sets of MDs used for different surgical operations may be washed together, without exceeding the washer capacity in the washing step. Ideal pre-disinfection time is approximately 20 minutes, since longer pre-disinfection times may corrode MDs. Our aim is thus to minimize the pre-disinfection time exceeding the ideal pre-disinfection time. Hence, the decisions for batching the MD sets and launching washing cycles are crucial in minimizing the waiting time of MDs in the washing step. In this paper, we model the washing step as a batch scheduling problem, where MD sets are denoted as jobs with different sizes and different release dates, but with equal processing times for washing. Although MD arriving times to the sterilization service may be estimated in advance regarding the operating room scheduling, it is not always possible to have the exact information about their arrival within a day. Thus, we develop a semi-online algorithm for the loading of washers. After testing its efficiency for the pre-disinfection criterion, we develop a simulation model in order to test the impact of this optimization on the whole sterilization process.
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