A staff allocation model for mental health facilities

This article describes a model for allocating staff within a large psychiatric hospital. The model provides an objective framework within which one can test alternative staff operating policies before making critical decisions concerning the employment of one category of personnel as opposed to another. It is based on objective data describing patient needs and staff functioning patterns, rather than subjective opinions concerning staff deployment. Besides being useful for the short-term deployment of staff and budgetary resources, it can also be used as a long-range planning tool for testing modifications in policy decisions and budget proposals. The algorithm employed, mixed-integer linear programming, is readily available; computer costs and running time are relatively minimal.