Healthcare operations management: a structured literature review

Abstract

This study reviewed research papers on healthcare operations management from reputed operations management and service management journals from 2000. The literature review covered a total of 177 research papers on healthcare operations management. The objective of the literature review was to identify key dimensions of healthcare operations management, highlight the present trend in research on healthcare operations management, and suggest areas for future research. The literature review identified six major themes namely service quality, service operation strategy, information technology, service scheduling, service performance, and others elements (consists of five sub-themes). The study found that a large proportion of empirical studies in the area of healthcare operations management have been conducted in developed nations. This calls more research in developing and underdeveloped nations because the management challenges of healthcare industry in developing and underdeveloped nations are quite different from those in developed nations.