A Review of the Scheduling Problem within Canadian Healthcare Centres

Abstract

In this paper, the current literature regarding nurse scheduling and physician scheduling in Canada is reviewed. Staff scheduling is a vital aspect of healthcare which has immediate positive benefits when optimized. It is also a very complex optimization problem, often involving conflicts, human evaluation and time constraints. Four categories of problems are reviewed: staff scheduling, physician scheduling, operating room scheduling, and outpatient scheduling, each focusing on a different aspect of resource scheduling and involving unique considerations. Numerous different heuristics and algorithms have been implemented and tested in dozens of hospitals across Canada with nearly universal positive results. Despite the obvious benefits, continued implementations of the optimization software is uncommon.