PhD Defence Maria van Zyl-Cillie | A transdisciplinary approach to address delays in South African health services

A transdisciplinary approach to address delays in South African health services

Maria van Zyl-Cillie is a PhD student in the Department of Industrial Engineering & Business Information Systems. (Co)Promotors are prof.dr.ir. E.W. Hans and dr. D. Demirtas from the Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Science.

Summary of research: This research was performed in South Africa, where the PhD candidate, Maria van Zyl-Cillié resides. The research topic is motivated by the problematic delays that the population of South Africa experiences in their healthcare services. South Africa is experiencing an accelerated increase in demand for healthcare services, particularly those provided in hospitals. Furthermore, natural and artificial demand variability is inherent to hospital settings. In South Africa, the available resources to provide hospital patient care are limited. This is coupled with a variable supply of resources, such as nursing staH, to provide quality patient care. As a result, patients often experience delays in receiving healthcare services in South African hospitals. Improving hospital eHiciencies can address such delays. The discipline of Operations Research and Management Science (ORMS) can assist in realizing these eHiciencies. However, it is first required to have a clear understanding of the challenges and opportunities that applying ORMS in hospitals in South Africa poses. In this research, the researcher determines what the challenges and opportunities are in applying ORMS methods to improve the eHiciency of hospital care services, with particular attention to reducing waiting for patients and ensuring the emotional well-being of hospital staH. Furthermore, she takes a transdisciplinary approach by incorporating education and training into the research and considers the research question from a patient, clinical staH and organisational perspective.