MASCOT Research Project

 Medical Attendant Shift Conception and OpTimisation

Group : Dynamic Systems and Optimization

Labelling: none

Duration: 3 years (2018 - 2022)

Funding: RFI Atlanstic 2020, the University of Angers and IMT Atlantique

Staff involved from LARIS: Christelle Jussien-Guéret, David Baez (PhD student)

Project partners: L. Billard (CHU Nantes), O. Bellenguez-Morineau (IMT Atlantique | LS2N)

The objective of this project is to develop decision support techniques for the construction of hospital staff schedules, in a context requiring to maintain continuity and safety of care in all circumstances, while remaining attentive to the quality of life of caregivers.

The traditional decision-making process for the construction of schedules is divided into several successive stages, each focusing on a distinct horizon: sizing and composition of teams on a yearly basis, followed by the construction of work cycles, and finally the construction of monthly personal schedules, amended daily in case of unexpected events (absence of employees for example). The various optimization problems of this decision-making process are mostly addressed in the literature, but they are studied independently from each other. However, when the first phases have been carried out with too much approximation, the construction of monthly personal schedules may become impracticable and lead to additional costs through the use of replacements or overtime. Furthermore, the majority of work on hospital staff planning aim at minimizing the global costs. But the current context of tension (fewer and fewer resources) leads to the need for solutions that have the capacity to easily absorb unexpected events. In addition, the current suffering of caregivers shows that more attention should be paid to human aspects in order to enable staff to regain a certain quality of life at work.

This study therefore focuses on three major scientific challenges. The first one is to address the optimization problems of the different decision-making horizons into a same approach in order to allow a more relevant global optimization. Second, it seems necessary to provide robust solutions to manage daily unexpected events with more flexibility. The last challenge is to enrich the modelling of the problems with an in-depth and interdisciplinary reflection aimed at integrating human realities, beyond the quantifiable aspects usually addressed in Operational Research.

This project involves three partners: the LARIS and the LS2N laboratories, whose one specialty is the resolution of optimization problems in logistics and production systems, and the University Hospital of Nantes, which will provide its expertise on the issues addressed and real data.

This project is funded by RFI Atlanstic 2020, the University of Angers and IMT Atlantique.