Improving Healthcare Operations
Operations and decision analytics research enables the integration of medical and social care for the elderly to improve coordination, quality and effectiveness of services across the elderly care continuum. There is an increasing number of the elderly admitted into elderly care facilities but a constant shortage of staff. Improving the efficiency of operations translates to better care for the elderly and more efficient workflow for care providers.
Prof Jin Qi, an expert in operations and decision analytics, has had previous experience in working closely with healthcare practitioners and administrators in both Singapore and Hong Kong and managing patient flow in various departments, including the Accident & Emergency Department, Ambulatory Care Centre, Operating Theatres, Non-Emergency Ambulance Transfer Units, etc. She has also recently worked with Hong Kong Christian Service on streamlining a meal delivery service that delivers meals on time within an hour by decreasing travel distance and cost.
Haven of Hope Christian Service’s multiple elderly care facilities serve more than 2500 elderly in the community and 1000 of them require meals delivered to their homes. Better matching and a more robust model of the workflow translate to a more flexible meal delivery service that responds to user needs and creates less wastage of resources and better quality meals for the elderly. The partnership will also potentially examine how the incorporation of new technology in elderly care will improve or hinder the flow of operations.
Prof Qi’s research focuses on the analytics of services systems, with the goals of eliciting operational insights and providing solutions for supporting decision-making in practice. She uses mathematical optimization models, algorithms to solve complex problems with numerous variables and uncertainties, machine learning to detect patterns and subsequent decision analytics to provide smarter solutions.
Prof Jin Qi is Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering and Decision Analytics. She was appointed visiting assistant professor at the Department of Management Science at City University of Hong Kong, after receiving her PhD from the National University of Singapore in 2014. Her broad range of research includes robust optimization, healthcare operations and transportation.