Universität zu Köln

Fuegener, Andreas and Brunner, Jens O. ORCID: 0000-0002-2700-4795 (2019). Planning for Overtime: The Value of Shift Extensions in Physician Scheduling. INFORMS J. Comput., 31 (4). S. 732 - 745. CATONSVILLE: INFORMS. ISSN 1526-5528

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Scheduling physicians is a key success factor in hospitals. Heterogeneous demand and 24/7 service make the problem challenging. Approaches in the literature use flexible shift patterns to match demand with scarce resources. In these approaches, demand is usually assumed to be deterministic. However, surgery durations and emergency arrivals are both uncertain, leading to massive staff overtime. We introduce stochastic demand for physicians using a scenario-based approach. To incorporate this in scheduling, we allow variable shift extensions. If a variable shift extension is scheduled, the physician knows that with a given probability he or she may have to work a few periods longer. Thus, we ensure a matching of supply with demand, and at the same time we increase predictability of working hours. We propose a mixed-integer model and a column generation heuristic to solve our problem and provide experimental data from a German university hospital. Our approach reduces unplanned overtime by more than 80%, given a constant workforce. In cases of similar levels of unplanned overtime, the required workforce level can be decreased by 20%. Our approach aims at improving physicians' work-life balance and provides insights for hospitals' contract design processes.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Fuegener, Andreas UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Brunner, Jens O. UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-2700-4795 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-142057
DOI:	10.1287/ijoc.2018.0865
Journal or Publication Title:	INFORMS J. Comput.
Volume:	31
Number:	4
Page Range:	S. 732 - 745
Date:	2019
Publisher:	INFORMS
Place of Publication:	CATONSVILLE
ISSN:	1526-5528
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language CARE; OPERATIONS; MODEL Multiple languages Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications; Operations Research & Management Science Multiple languages
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/14205