IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/hcarem/v18y2015i3p289-302.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A stochastic optimization model for shift scheduling in emergency departments

Author

Listed:
  • Omar EL-Rifai
  • Thierry Garaix
  • Vincent Augusto
  • Xiaolan Xie

Abstract

Excessive waiting time in Emergency Departments (ED) can be both a cause of frustration and more importantly, a health concern for patients. Waiting time arises when the demand for work goes beyond the facility’s service capacity. ED service capacity mainly depends on human resources and on beds available for patients. In this paper, we focus on human resources organization in an ED and seek to best balance between service quality and working conditions. More specifically, we address the personnel scheduling problem in order to optimize the shift distribution among employees and minimize the total expected patients’ waiting time. The problem is also characterized by a multi-stage re-entrant service process. With an appropriate approximation of patients’ waiting times, we first propose a stochastic mixed-integer programming model that is solved by a sample average approximation (SAA) approach. The resulting personnel schedules are then evaluated using a discrete-event simulation model. Numerical experiments are then performed with data from a French hospital to compare different personnel scheduling strategies. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Omar EL-Rifai & Thierry Garaix & Vincent Augusto & Xiaolan Xie, 2015. "A stochastic optimization model for shift scheduling in emergency departments," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 289-302, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:hcarem:v:18:y:2015:i:3:p:289-302
    DOI: 10.1007/s10729-014-9300-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10729-014-9300-4
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10729-014-9300-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Izady, Navid & Worthington, Dave, 2012. "Setting staffing requirements for time dependent queueing networks: The case of accident and emergency departments," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 219(3), pages 531-540.
    2. D. Michael Warner, 1976. "Scheduling Nursing Personnel According to Nursing Preference: A Mathematical Programming Approach," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(5), pages 842-856, October.
    3. David Sinreich & Ola Jabali, 2007. "Staggered work shifts: a way to downsize and restructure an emergency department workforce yet maintain current operational performance," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 293-308, September.
    4. Ernst, A. T. & Jiang, H. & Krishnamoorthy, M. & Sier, D., 2004. "Staff scheduling and rostering: A review of applications, methods and models," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 153(1), pages 3-27, February.
    5. Ingolfsson, Armann & Amanul Haque, Md. & Umnikov, Alex, 2002. "Accounting for time-varying queueing effects in workforce scheduling," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(3), pages 585-597, June.
    6. Leslie C. Edie, 1954. "Traffic Delays at Toll Booths," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 2(2), pages 107-138, May.
    7. Jaumard, Brigitte & Semet, Frederic & Vovor, Tsevi, 1998. "A generalized linear programming model for nurse scheduling," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 107(1), pages 1-18, May.
    8. Otis B. Jennings & Avishai Mandelbaum & William A. Massey & Ward Whitt, 1996. "Server Staffing to Meet Time-Varying Demand," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(10), pages 1383-1394, October.
    9. David Sinreich & Ola Jabali & Nico Dellaert, 2012. "Reducing emergency department waiting times by adjusting work shifts considering patient visits to multiple care providers," IISE Transactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(3), pages 163-180.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ellen Bockstal & Broos Maenhout, 2019. "A study on the impact of prioritising emergency department arrivals on the patient waiting time," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 589-614, December.
    2. Kwok Tai Chui & Wadee Alhalabi & Sally Shuk Han Pang & Patricia Ordóñez de Pablos & Ryan Wen Liu & Mingbo Zhao, 2017. "Disease Diagnosis in Smart Healthcare: Innovation, Technologies and Applications," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-23, December.
    3. Erhard, Melanie & Schoenfelder, Jan & Fügener, Andreas & Brunner, Jens O., 2018. "State of the art in physician scheduling," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 265(1), pages 1-18.
    4. Amir Elalouf & Guy Wachtel, 2022. "Queueing Problems in Emergency Departments: A Review of Practical Approaches and Research Methodologies," SN Operations Research Forum, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 1-46, March.
    5. Tohidi, Mohammad & Kazemi Zanjani, Masoumeh & Contreras, Ivan, 2021. "A physician planning framework for polyclinics under uncertainty," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    6. Melanie Erhard, 2021. "Flexible staffing of physicians with column generation," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 212-252, March.
    7. Wang, Fan & Zhang, Chao & Zhang, Hui & Xu, Liang, 2021. "Short-term physician rescheduling model with feature-driven demand for mental disorders outpatients," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    8. Farzad Zaerpour & Marco Bijvank & Huiyin Ouyang & Zhankun Sun, 2022. "Scheduling of Physicians with Time‐Varying Productivity Levels in Emergency Departments," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(2), pages 645-667, February.
    9. Renata Mansini & Roberto Zanotti, 2020. "Optimizing the physician scheduling problem in a large hospital ward," Journal of Scheduling, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 337-361, June.
    10. Andreas Fügener & Jens O. Brunner, 2019. "Planning for Overtime: The Value of Shift Extensions in Physician Scheduling," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 31(4), pages 732-744, October.
    11. Ezzah Suraya Sarudin & Wan Nor Munirah Ariffin & Siti Suhana Jamaian, 2024. "Mapping the Landscape: A Bibliometric Analysis of Staff Scheduling Optimization Research Trends and Keywords Evolution," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(8), pages 358-372, August.
    12. Achini Wellalage & Mark Fackrell & Lele Zhang, 2024. "A Monte Carlo simulation-based simulated annealing algorithm for predicting the minimum staffing requirement at a blood donor centre," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 342(3), pages 1945-1990, November.
    13. Miguel Angel Ortíz-Barrios & Juan-José Alfaro-Saíz, 2020. "Methodological Approaches to Support Process Improvement in Emergency Departments: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-41, April.
    14. Kraul, Sebastian & Brunner, Jens O., 2023. "Stable annual scheduling of medical residents using prioritized multiple training schedules to combat operational uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 309(3), pages 1263-1278.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ran Liu & Xiaolan Xie, 2018. "Physician Staffing for Emergency Departments with Time-Varying Demand," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 30(3), pages 588-607, August.
    2. Ernst, A. T. & Jiang, H. & Krishnamoorthy, M. & Sier, D., 2004. "Staff scheduling and rostering: A review of applications, methods and models," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 153(1), pages 3-27, February.
    3. Niyirora, Jerome & Zhuang, Jun, 2017. "Fluid approximations and control of queues in emergency departments," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 261(3), pages 1110-1124.
    4. Topaloglu, Seyda, 2009. "A shift scheduling model for employees with different seniority levels and an application in healthcare," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 198(3), pages 943-957, November.
    5. Ingolfsson, Armann & Campello, Fernanda & Wu, Xudong & Cabral, Edgar, 2010. "Combining integer programming and the randomization method to schedule employees," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 202(1), pages 153-163, April.
    6. Miguel Angel Ortíz-Barrios & Juan-José Alfaro-Saíz, 2020. "Methodological Approaches to Support Process Improvement in Emergency Departments: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-41, April.
    7. Van den Bergh, Jorne & Beliën, Jeroen & De Bruecker, Philippe & Demeulemeester, Erik & De Boeck, Liesje, 2013. "Personnel scheduling: A literature review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 226(3), pages 367-385.
    8. Arpan Rijal & Marco Bijvank & Asvin Goel & René de Koster, 2021. "Workforce Scheduling with Order-Picking Assignments in Distribution Facilities," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(3), pages 725-746, May.
    9. Júlíus Atlason & Marina A. Epelman & Shane G. Henderson, 2008. "Optimizing Call Center Staffing Using Simulation and Analytic Center Cutting-Plane Methods," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(2), pages 295-309, February.
    10. Jens Brunner & Jonathan Bard & Rainer Kolisch, 2009. "Flexible shift scheduling of physicians," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 285-305, September.
    11. Scott E. Sampson, 2008. "OR PRACTICE---Optimization of Vacation Timeshare Scheduling," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 56(5), pages 1079-1088, October.
    12. Xi Chen & Dave Worthington, 2017. "Staffing of time-varying queues using a geometric discrete time modelling approach," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 252(1), pages 63-84, May.
    13. Vanhoucke, Mario & Maenhout, Broos, 2009. "On the characterization and generation of nurse scheduling problem instances," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 196(2), pages 457-467, July.
    14. Elina Rönnberg & Torbjörn Larsson, 2010. "Automating the self-scheduling process of nurses in Swedish healthcare: a pilot study," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 35-53, March.
    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.
    16. B Maenhout & M Vanhoucke, 2009. "The impact of incorporating nurse-specific characteristics in a cyclical scheduling approach," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 60(12), pages 1683-1698, December.
    17. Jonas Baeklund, 2014. "Nurse rostering at a Danish ward," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 222(1), pages 107-123, November.
    18. Broos Maenhout & Mario Vanhoucke, 2008. "Comparison and hybridization of crossover operators for the nurse scheduling problem," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 333-353, March.
    19. Wright, P. Daniel & Mahar, Stephen, 2013. "Centralized nurse scheduling to simultaneously improve schedule cost and nurse satisfaction," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 1042-1052.
    20. Banu Sungur & Cemal Özgüven & Yasemin Kariper, 2017. "Shift scheduling with break windows, ideal break periods, and ideal waiting times," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 203-222, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:hcarem:v:18:y:2015:i:3:p:289-302. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.