Tailoring a Red Deer Algorithm for Solving an Integrated Surgery Planning and Scheduling Problem

This paper tackles a challenging Integrated Surgery Planning and Scheduling Problem that simultaneously considers operating rooms and recovery beds. The objective is to minimize the maximum daily closing time of the operating theatre, a key metric for optimizing hospital resource utilization and improving the quality of patient care. To address this NP-hard problem, we propose using the Red Deer Algorithm (RDA), a recently developed evolutionary metaheuristic inspired by the mating behavior of Scottish Red Deer during their breeding season. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, computational experiments were carried out on a series of benchmark instances. The results highlight the effectiveness of the RDA in generating high-quality surgical schedules, contributing to improved operational efficiency and enhanced patient outcomes..