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Finding the sweet spot: how to get the right staffing for variable workloads
David J Bryce1, Taylor J Christensen
1Department of Organizational Leadership and Strategy, Marriott School of Management, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA. dbryce@byu.edu
Summary
Hospital managers can reduce staffing costs by using a simulation tool to balance service demand with staff scheduling. This approach avoids overstaffing or expensive on-call staff, optimizing resource allocation.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Management
- Operations Research
- Hospital Administration
Background:
- Hospital department managers often face challenges in accurately forecasting service demand.
- Suboptimal staff scheduling leads to increased operational costs, either through overstaffing or reliance on costly on-call personnel.
- Existing scheduling methods may not effectively balance staffing levels with fluctuating patient demand.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a staffing and workload simulation tool for hospital departments.
- To identify an optimal balance between staffing levels and service demand to minimize costs.
- To provide a data-driven approach for improving hospital resource allocation.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing a simulation tool to model various staffing scenarios against predicted service demand.
- Analyzing cost implications of different scheduling strategies, including overstaffing and on-call usage.
- Evaluating the tool's effectiveness in identifying cost-saving opportunities.
Main Results:
- The simulation tool helps identify inefficiencies in current staffing models.
- Implementing the tool can lead to significant reductions in overall staffing costs.
- A balanced approach, guided by simulation, proves more cost-effective than traditional methods.
Conclusions:
- A staffing and workload simulation tool offers a viable solution for optimizing hospital staffing.
- Balancing staff schedules with demand through simulation reduces unnecessary expenditures.
- Adoption of such tools can enhance financial efficiency in hospital departments.
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