Scheduling Medical Residents to Rotations: Solving the Large-Scale Multiperiod Staff Assignment Problem

Lori S. Franz and Janis L. Miller
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Lori S. Franz: University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
Janis L. Miller: Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina

Operations Research, 1993, vol. 41, issue 2, 269-279

Abstract: The resident scheduling problem is a specific case of the multiperiod staff assignment problem where individuals are assigned to a variety of tasks over multiple time periods. As in many staffing and training situations, numerous limitations and requirements may be placed on those assignments. This paper presents a procedure for addressing two major problems inherent in the determination of a solution to this type of problem: infeasibilities that naturally occur in the scheduling environment but are obscured by complexity; and the intractable nature of large-scale models with this structure. The procedure developed describes a systematic approach that allows decision makers to resolve system-inherent infeasibilities, and a heuristic based on rounding to develop good feasible solutions to the model. The procedure is illustrated via a case example of resident assignments for teaching and training modules in a university affiliated teaching hospital.

Keywords: education systems; operations: scheduling training experiences; health care; hospitals: scheduling medical residents; programming; integer; heuristics: multiperiod staff assignment problems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1993
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

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