OR Spectrum (2012) 34:407–427 DOI 10.1007/s00291-011-0279-7 REGULAR ARTICLE An integer programming approach to elective surgery scheduling Analysis and comparison based on a real case Inês Marques · M. Eugénia Captivo · Margarida Vaz Pato Published online: 22 December 2011 © Springer-Verlag 2011 Abstract The scope of this work covers a real case of elective surgery planning in a Lisbon hospital. The aim is to employ more efficiently the resources installed in the surgical suite of the hospital in question besides improving the functioning of its sur- gical service. Such a planning sets out to schedule elective surgeries from the waiting list on a weekly time horizon with the objective of maximizing the use of the surgical suite. For this purpose, the authors develop an integer linear programming model. The model is tested using real data obtained from the hospital’s record. The non-optimal solutions are further improved by developing a custom-made, simple and efficient improvement heuristic. Application of this heuristic effectively improves almost all non-optimal solutions. The results are analyzed and compared with the actual perfor- mance of the surgical suite. This analysis reveals that the solutions obtained using this approach comply with the conditions imposed by the hospital and improve the use I. Marques (B ) · M. E. Captivo · M. Vaz Pato Centro de Investigação Operacional, Edifício C6 - Piso 4, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisbon, Portugal e-mail: ines.marques@fc.ul.pt I. Marques FCTS/FEG, Univ. Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Campo Grande, 376, 1749-024 Lisbon, Portugal M. E. Captivo DEIO - Faculdade de Ciências, Univ. Lisboa, Edifício C6 - Piso 4, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisbon, Portugal e-mail: mecaptivo@fc.ul.pt M. Vaz Pato Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, Dept. Matemática, Univ. Técnica de Lisboa, Rua do Quelhas, 6, 1200-781 Lisbon, Portugal e-mail: mpato@iseg.utl.pt 123