An implicit tour scheduling model with applications in healthcare

Motivated by difficult staff scheduling problems arising in healthcare institutions, we have developed an implicit tour scheduling model which includes full and part- time tour types as well as intra- tour start time flexibility. Potential benefits of intra- tour start time flexibility are demonstrated through a computational experiment. The model has been embedded in a decision support system at a large tertiary care hospital and has been used in numerous studies to help estimate staffing needs and to analyze the impact of scheduling policies and practices.