Analysis and optimization of clinical pathways using timed continuous Petri nets.

This paper presents a novel approach to analyze and optimize healthcare systems based on clinical pathways, using timed continuous Petri nets (TCPNs) under infinite server semantics. TCPNs allow for an efficient continuous-time analysis of the patient flow and resource utilization dynamics of these types of systems. We demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of our method through a case study of a hip fracture pathway at the "Lozano Blesa" University Clinical Hospital, in Zaragoza Spain. Additionally, we propose a method to optimize the behavior of the modeled system by taking a control theory approach, which enables the system to achieve maximum throughput more efficiently. Finally, we provide simulation results to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller in practical settings.