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Building Cyclic Schedules for Emergency Department Physicians

Author

Listed:
  • Yann Ferrand

    (Department of Operations and Business Analytics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221)

  • Michael Magazine

    (Department of Operations and Business Analytics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221)

  • Uday S. Rao

    (Department of Operations and Business Analytics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221)

  • Todd F. Glass

    (Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Liberty Campus, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229)

Abstract

Physicians at a branch of the emergency department at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center complained that their schedules were too erratic because of the multitude of operating requirements, regulatory constraints, physician preferences, and holiday requests. We addressed this issue by using integer programming to build cyclic schedules that can be repeated throughout the year. These schedules are flexible enough to handle incorporating holidays, work assignments, and vacation requests ex post. After we rolled out the calendar-year-based cyclic schedule, we captured statistics to assess the viability and the quality of the yearly schedule generated. Surveys of the physicians and the scheduler after implementation showed that the new schedule provides predictability and well-balanced work patterns.

Suggested Citation

  • Yann Ferrand & Michael Magazine & Uday S. Rao & Todd F. Glass, 2011. "Building Cyclic Schedules for Emergency Department Physicians," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 41(6), pages 521-533, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:41:y:2011:i:6:p:521-533
    DOI: 10.1287/inte.1110.0563
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    3. Paola Cappanera & Filippo Visintin & Roberta Rossi, 2022. "The emergency department physician rostering problem: obtaining equitable solutions via network optimization," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 916-959, December.
    4. David Scheinker & Margaret L. Brandeau, 2020. "Implementing Analytics Projects in a Hospital: Successes, Failures, and Opportunities," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 50(3), pages 176-189, May.
    5. Melissa R. Bowers & Charles E. Noon & Wei Wu & J. Kirk Bass, 2016. "Neonatal Physician Scheduling at the University of Tennessee Medical Center," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 46(2), pages 168-182, April.
    6. 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.
    7. n/a, 2012. "Commentaries to "The Vital Role of Operations Analysis in Improving Healthcare Delivery"," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 14(4), pages 495-511, October.
    8. Shaowen Lan & Wenjuan Fan & Kaining Shao & Shanlin Yang & Panos M. Pardalos, 2022. "A column-generation-based approach for an integrated service planning and physician scheduling problem considering re-consultation," Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, Springer, vol. 44(5), pages 3446-3476, December.
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    10. 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.

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