28 Dec Walden DDHA 8800 Optimization in Staffing Quality Patient Care and Safety

Part 1

Optimization in Staffing

Oscar is a healthcare administration leader who oversees the management of an ambulatory care clinic. Over the past 2 months, patient inflows have dramatically increased due to a recent shutdown of a neighboring care clinic. The patient inflows require that 90% of all nursing staff work overtime to ensure effective healthcare delivery. However, having 90% of the nursing workforce work overtime could be problematic in terms of patient quality and safety. Oscar would like to determine how he can best optimize his current staff holdings to ensure a balance between quality patient care and safety.

For this Discussion, review the resources, and be sure to focus on the Bastian et al. (2015) article. Reflect on the optimization problem mentioned in the article. Walden DDHA 8800 Optimization in Staffing Quality Patient Care and Safety

Post a summary of the optimization problem presented in the Bastian et al. (2015) article in the resources for this week. Be sure to include an explanation of the objective function, as well as what the constraints actually mean. Then, explain what was done well in the article, and identify where you found shortcomings in the article. Be specific and provide examples.

Part 2

More Advanced Optimization

Advanced optimization techniques are often necessary to solve real problems in health care. Techniques like goal programming and data envelopment analysis are often used to solve multiple objective problems, such as minimizing cost while maximizing access measures. Other advanced techniques are often required for problems that sometimes seem straightforward. Although you may not encounter the use of advanced optimization techniques on a day-to-day basis, understanding the methodology and application of these techniques is a valuable skill for the healthcare administration leader.

For this Assignment, review the resources for this week. Reflect on, and consider, the advanced optimization techniques highlighted. Think about how you might apply these advanced optimization techniques to healthcare delivery challenges in a health services organization.

For Chapter 14, problems 80 and 90, you will need to download the files P14_80.xlsx and P14_90.xlsx from the textbook companion website http://www.cengage.com/cgi-wadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M20b&product_isbn_issn=9781305947542. Under “Book Resources”, click on “Student Downloads” to view the downloadable files. Click “Problem Files” and download the zipped file 1305947541_538885.zip. Open the zipped file, and select folder “Problem Files” and then select folder “Chapter 14” to access the files P14_80.xlsx and P14_90.xlsx.

The Assignment: (3–5 pages)

Complete Problem 80 (pharmaceutical company) and Problem 90 (brain tumor) on pages 751 and 753 of your course text.

Note: You will be using Excel and Solver for this Assignment.

Submit your answers and embedded Excel analysis as a Microsoft Word management report.