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Scheduling Medical Residents at Boston University School of Medicine

Author

Listed:
  • Amy Cohn

    (Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109)

  • Sarah Root

    (Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72703)

  • Carisa Kymissis

    (Department of Psychiatry, St. Luke's Hospital, New York, New York 10025)

  • Justin Esses

    (Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02118)

  • Niesha Westmoreland

    (Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York 10467)

Abstract

The chief residents in the psychiatry program at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) must construct a schedule that simultaneously assigns residents to five types of call shifts, spanning three different hospitals, over a 365-day planning horizon. We show how user expertise and heuristic approaches alone fail to find acceptable solutions to this complex combinatorial problem; likewise, mathematical programming techniques alone are inadequate, largely because they lack a clearly definable objective function. However, by combining both approaches, we were able to find high-quality solutions in a very short time. The resulting schedule, which BUSM uses currently, has yielded substantial benefits; the solution quality has improved, and the effort required to develop the solution has been reduced.

Suggested Citation

  • Amy Cohn & Sarah Root & Carisa Kymissis & Justin Esses & Niesha Westmoreland, 2009. "Scheduling Medical Residents at Boston University School of Medicine," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 39(3), pages 186-195, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:39:y:2009:i:3:p:186-195
    DOI: 10.1287/inte.1080.0369
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    15. Young-Chae Hong & Amy Cohn & Stephen Gorga & Edmond O’Brien & William Pozehl & Jennifer Zank, 2019. "Using Optimization Techniques and Multidisciplinary Collaboration to Solve a Challenging Real-World Residency Scheduling Problem," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 49(3), pages 201-212, May.
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