Application of Intelligent Agents in Hospital Appointment Scheduling System

Abstract

Normally when we want to make an appointment with the hospital staff, it becomes really tedious and time consuming. Over the past considerable amount of work have been done by using software Agents in areas like m-commerce, e-commerce, telemedicine etc. Agent based systems have also been developed for the hospital service, for searching and fixing appointment over mobile phones which gives a direct reply when the appointment is made or the next available date(s) or cancelled. However, no facility like priority appointment of patients has been developed. Also the appointment does not take into consideration emergency situations like Accidents and so on and the scheduling reported is only for general patient appointment only. Taking these important aspects into consideration, we here have developed an intelligent agent based system towards negotiating and collaborating with the agents of doctors and the hospital for the appropriate appointment time for the patient which would take the above factors into consideration. In addition the meetings of the junior staff like the duty doctor and nurse with the chief doctor regarding patients would also carried out again while taking into consideration the medical condition of the patient admitted and so on. These agents developed would function based on fuzzy preference rules, to make a proper decision regarding making an appointment for patient and other hospital staff , which is very unique and first of its kind. The system validated uses ANDROID 2.2 and JADE-LEAP, for providing a robust, user friendly solution for the patient and doctor.

MedConnect PLUS: Health Management System

“…This encompasses the overall time span from registration to the consultation with a doctor. The waiting time can be further divided into two components: the time required to consult with a physician and the time taken to acquire prescribed medication [4]. The inception of a patient appointment system or schedule for healthcare centers dates back to a significant period.…”

Quick Response Code Based Online Appointment Scheduling System: An Approach towards Health Management

“…Nowadays in most countries the healthcare industry is most important and largest industry. As the demand of the healthcare industry increases day by day there is a need for improvement in quality of services provided by the healthcare industry and patient waiting times [1]. In healthcare industry, it is necessary to manage patient appointment, medication scheduling and keep efficient tracking of every day functioning for future reference.…”

“…An effective and efficient appointment scheduling application will enhance patient satisfaction and physician efficiency and help to deliver timely and easy access to medical services [2]. Continuously hospitals are facing appointment scheduling problems which causes wastage of doctors time, also decrease in patient satisfaction and staff morale [1]. In case of smart health, physicians and other professionals from healthcare industry are always trying ways to improve the interaction with patients providing high quality solutions, services and technologies [3].…”