OPERATIONS RESEARCH TECHNIQUES AND ITS’ APPLICATION IN HEALTHCARE SERVICE DELIVERY DECISION MAKING: A REVIEW OF EVOLUTION

Operations Research & its applications have made noticeable contribution in the field of healthcare since 1960. It has been used in complex decision making under uncertainty. The prime objective of this article is to the aim of this article is to identify the chronological development of the application of OR tools, techniques and various models in healthcare sector. Usage of different OR tools, techniques and its trend for optimization, planning, and decision-making are studied through a descriptive literature review of scientific papers published between 1952 and 2016. A rising pattern in the usage of operational models is observed with the predominance of resource optimization approaches and strategic decision-making for healthcare sector.