Dr.ir. Aleida Braaksma

Optimal staffing can mitigate the staffing crisis

In this presentation, I give two examples of how operations research – the mathematical specialization that deals with planning and scheduling – can support optimal staffing. First, I show how staff on nursing wards can be aligned to the numbers of patients present, using hourly predictions of the bed census based on scheduled and unplanned patient inflow. Second, I show how a bit of flexibility by neonatal intensive care unit nurses can significantly reduce the numbers of patients who are transported to a neonatal intensive care unit far away from their home and not with their own doctor. Using these examples, I show how operations research can play a major role in mitigating the staffing crisis.

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Biography

As an applied mathematician I develop algorithms that support healthcare organizations and professionals in organizing their logistics more efficiently. Through redesigning and optimizing processes, improving the efficiency often goes hand in hand with improving quality of care and service and quality of labor. I conduct research in direct connection with healthcare organizations, such that my mathematical models answer questions from practice and can be implemented to serve patients and staff.

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