ORAHS2025
Abstract Submission

111. Healthcare staffing using split shifts

Invited abstract in session MC-3: Staff scheduling, stream Sessions.

Monday, 11:00-12:30
Room: NTNU, Realfagbygget R9

Authors (first author is the speaker)

1. David Ajit Kirpekar-Sauer
2. Jens Brunner
Department of Technology, Management, and Economics, Technical University of Denmark

Abstract

Healthcare struggles with a serious staffing shortage. On the other side, demand fluctuates wildly. Due to the often rigid structure of shifts, this often leads to over staffing in periods with low demand. As healthcare staff are a sparse resource, over staffing is highly undesirable. There is a need for better matching supply with demand, i.e., new shift system might be a solution. Current scheduling literature has tried to combat this problem via flexible shifts, planned overtime, or part-time staff. Our aim is to use split shifts as a novel option. Split shifts consist of two short shifts on a single day, separated by reduced inner working day rest time. Split shifts have partially been used in the transport sector, where bus drivers work split shifts to cover the morning and afternoon rush hours. We transfer the idea to general personnel scheduling in healthcare. We consider a generic staffing problem subject to generic working time, labor regulations, and highly fluctuating demand. We formulate a mathematical model incorporating split shifts to handle multiple daily demand peaks. We investigate the effect of split shifts in combating staff shortages in healthcare. We develop a branch-and-price procedure and compare it to standard solvers. The methods are tested on both real-life instances, based on data from a disabled-care facility, and randomly generated instances. We present preliminary results and show that split shifts are able to reduce staffing.

Keywords

Status: accepted

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