Solving a Bi-objective Nurse Rerostering Problem by Using a Utopic Pareto Genetic Heuristic

Nurse rerostering arises when at least one nurse announces that she will be unable to undertake the tasks previously assigned to her. The problem amounts to building a new roster that satisfies the hard constraints already met by the current one and, as much as possible, fulfils two groups of soft constraints which define the two objectives to be attained. A bi-objective genetic heuristic was designed on the basis of a population of individuals characterised by pairs of chromosomes, whose fitness complies with the Pareto ranking of the respective decoded solution. It includes an elitist policy, as well as a new utopic strategy, introduced for purposes of diversification. The computational experiments produced promising results for the practical application of this approach to real life instances arising from a public hospital in Lisbon

Complicating factors in healthcare staff scheduling part 2 : case of nurse re-rostering

Nurse re-rostering is a highly constrained combinatorial problem characterized with several complicating features. This paper explores recent case studies on nurse re-rostering and identifies the common complicating factors in the nurse re-rostering problem. A taxonomic analysis of complicating factors is then presented. Further, an evaluation of the complicating factors and the solution methods applied, showing the shortfalls of the approaches. A more robust and appropriate approach is realized for the complex problem. Future approaches should be intelligent, interactive, making use of a combination of fuzzy theory, fuzzy logic, multi-criteria decision making, and expert systems techniques

Fuzzy multi-criteria simulated evolution for nurse re-rostering

Abstract: In a fuzzy environment where the decision making involves multiple criteria, fuzzy multi-criteria decision making approaches are a viable option. The nurse re-rostering problem is a typical complex problem situation, where scheduling decisions should consider fuzzy human preferences, such as nurse preferences, decision maker’s choices, and patient expectations. For effective nurse schedules, fuzzy theoretic evaluation approaches have to be used to incorporate the fuzzy human preferences and choices. The present study seeks to develop a fuzzy multi-criteria simulated evolution approach for the nurse re-rostering problem. Experimental results show that the fuzzy multi-criteria approach has a potential to solve large scale problems within reasonable computation times

A Two-Stage Dynamic Programming Model for Nurse Rostering Problem Under Uncertainty

No abstract provided.Master of Science in EngineeringIndustrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, College of Engineering and Computer ScienceUniversity of Michigan-Dearbornhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140733/1/WENJIE WANG_Thesis_Embedded.pdfDescription of WENJIE WANG_Thesis_Embedded.pdf : Thesi

Revisión de literatura sobre los modelos de optimización en programación de turnos de enfermería

Siendo la programación de turnos de enfermería (NSP) un componente esencial en la calidad del servicio de salud y debido al gran número de investigaciones desarrolladas sobre NSP en la literatura, se desarrolla una revisión de literatura sobre los artículos sobre NSP realizados desde 2003 hasta la fecha. A partir de este trabajo se logran identificar la tendencia y las necesidades propias de este problema, las cuales se caracterizan por (1) la necesidad de cerrar la brecha entre academia y práctica mediante el desarrollo de modelos objetivos de representación del problema y (2), desarrollar investigación sobre técnicas de solución capaces de tratar modelos de gran complejidad, sin sacrificar el recurso computacional. Este artículo presenta una revisión de literatura sobre los modelos de optimización en la programación de turnos de enfermería, publicados desde 2003 a la fecha.B Being the nurse shift scheduling an essential component of the quality of the health service and due to the big amount of research conducted regarding the Nurse Scheduling Problem (NSP), a literature review is carried out concerning articles on NSP published from 2003 up to now. As a result of this work, we were able to highlight the tendencies and own needs of this problem, which are characterized by: (1) the need to close the gap between academy and practice through the development of objective models that represent the problem and (2) research about solution techniques capable of processing models of great complexity, without sacrificing the computational resource. This article presents a literature review on optimization models in the NSP published since 2003

Reescalonamento de equipas de atendimento permanente : caso prático em telecomunicações

Mestrado em Decisão Económica e EmpresarialNuma equipa de atendimento permanente com um escalonamento pré-definido, qualquer motivo de ausência de um colaborador (baixa, formação, férias, etc.) provoca uma cadeia de alterações nos horários já atribuídos. Atualmente, a forma de ultrapassar o problema consiste em afetar um elemento da equipa à árdua tarefa de realocar os colaboradores aos horários ainda não atribuídos, de forma manual. Este projeto pretende ultrapassar o problema através do desenvolvimento de uma heurística de reescalonamento que produza uma nova programação de horários. Inicialmente recorre-se ao VBA para reproduzir o escalonamento pré-definido pela empresa. Após o escalonamento, é programada uma heurística com o objetivo de minimizar o impacto no escalonamento inicial face a imprevistos. O resultado consiste num novo escalonamento tendo em conta restrições associadas a horários imprescindíveis e às limitações inerentes aos contratos laborais de cada colaborador.In a permanent attendance team with a predefined schedule, any reason of absence given by an employee (illness, professional qualification, vacation, etc.) causes a chain of changes in the schedules already assigned. Now, the way to overcome the problem is to entrust a team member the arduous task of relocating employees to schedules not assigned yet, has to be done manually. This project aims to overcome the problem by developing a rescheduling heuristic that produces a new shifting plan. Initially, resorts to VBA which reproduce the default timetable of the company. After, is defined a heuristic in order to minimize the impact, in case of unexpected problems, in the initial stagger which will result in a new calendar, following all the restrictions associated with crucial schedules and inherent limitations in each employee's contract

Dimensionamento e escalonamento de pessoal em Call Centre

Mestrado em Métodos Quantitativos para a Decisão Económica e EmpresarialOs problemas de escalonamento de pessoal têm sido abundantemente abordados ao longo do tempo, devido ao peso elevado dos custos com pessoal na estrutura de uma organização. O projeto em desenvolvimento assenta na resolução de um problema de escalonamento com aplicação num call centre na área da saúde e visa a minimização dos custos incorridos e a consideração das preferências dos colaboradores em termos de dias e turnos de trabalho. O problema consiste na alocação dos seus colaboradores aos turnos existentes, de forma a cobrir a procura (volume de chamadas recebidas), respeitando as normas de funcionamento da organização e a legislação laboral. Na resolução do problema, adaptaram-se dois modelos: um modelo de staffing e um de rostering. O primeiro pretende determinar o número de colaboradores necessários por turno e dia da semana de acordo com a variabilidade da procura. As soluções deste modelo representam os inputs para o segundo, onde se distribuem os colaboradores pelos diferentes turnos e dias de trabalho. Ambos são formalizados em programação linear inteira e resolvidos através de métodos exatos, com recurso ao OpenSolver. Os modelos são escritos por meio de macros em VBA. Os modelos foram testados através de instâncias de pequenas dimensões, com diferentes níveis de procura, número e distribuição de turnos. Perante os resultados obtidos foi possível concluir que a distribuição dos enfermeiros pelos turnos varia consoante o número de turnos diários e o nível de procura considerado, dependendo também do número mínimo de enfermeiros a respeitar em cada turno de trabalho.Staff scheduling problems have been abundantly addressed over time, from diverse perspectives. This can be justified by the high weight of personnel costs in the structure of an organization. The project under development is based on the resolution of a scheduling problem applied to a call center, aiming both to minimize the costs incurred and to consider the preferences of employees in terms of days and shifts. The problem aims to allocate employees to existing shifts in way to cover demand, i.e. the volume of calls received, respecting the organization's operating norms and labor legislation. In the problem solving, two models were adapted: a staffing model and a rostering model. The first one determines the number of employees required per shift and day of the week according to demand variability. The solutions of this model represent the inputs to the second, where the employees are distributed through different shifts and working days. Both are formalized in integer linear programming and solved through exact methods, using OpenSolver/Excel. The templates are generated by means of macros written in VBA. The models were tested using small instances with different levels of demand, number and distribution of shifts. From the results obtained it was possible to conclude that the distribution of nurses by work shifts varies with the number of existing daily shifts and the level of demand considered and depends on the minimum number of nurses to be respected in each hour and work shift.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Reescalonamento de Bombeiros Voluntários

Mestrado em Métodos Quantitativos para a Decisão Económica e EmpresarialO objetivo deste projeto é resolver um problema de reescalonamento de bombeiros voluntários, recorrendo a técnicas de investigação operacional. O problema em causa consiste em fazer uma nova escala quando se é deparado com uma ou mais ausências inesperadas, tendo sempre como base a disponibilidade apresentada mensalmente pelos bombeiros, bem como a escala inicial. O problema foi formulado em programação linear inteira, tendo sido resolvido computacionalmente com recurso ao OpenSolver. Foram desenvolvidos dois modelos de reescalonamento, com dois objetivos diferenciados. O primeiro consiste em obter um novo escalonamento tendo em conta as restrições e não alterando turnos afetados no plano inicial, além dos decorrentes das faltas identificadas. No segundo modelo é permitido fazer alterações ao plano inicial sendo que o objetivo é minimizar as diferenças entre as duas escalas, a inicial e a resultante do reescalonamento. Da resolução de cada modelo obtém-se um novo plano de escalonamento final que cubra as ausências não programadas, sem intervenção humana. Assim, com recurso ao OpenSolver, é possível dispor de uma solução num curto espaço de tempo computacional. O modelo permite ainda testar, em pouco tempo, diferentes alternativas.The objective of this project is to solve the rescheduling problem of voluntary firefighters, while using operational research techniques. The problem involves creating a new schedule (scale) when faced with one or more unexpected absences, based on the availability presented monthly by each firefighter as well as on the initial scale. The problem was formulated in integer linear programming and was solved computationally using OpenSolver. Two rescheduling models were developed, with two different objectives. The first one aims to create a new schedule that takes into account all the restrictions, without changing the assignments of the initial plan, except those due to absences. In the second model, some changes were made to the initial plan. This time, the objective is to minimize the differences between the two schedules, the initial schedule and the final rescheduling. The results of these two models devise a new final scheduling plan that covers the non- programmed absences, without human intervention and obtained through OpenSolver, that grants a solution in a short computational time. The model also allows to test, in a short time, different alternatives.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio