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Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods

Selected Works

Leo MacDonald

Healthcare

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Business

A Process Flow Based Framework For Nurse Demand Estimation To Address Nurse Shortage., Jomon Paul, Leo Macdonald May 2014

A Process Flow Based Framework For Nurse Demand Estimation To Address Nurse Shortage., Jomon Paul, Leo Macdonald

Leo MacDonald

The nursing shortage in the United States poses a serious problem to hospitals, given that nurses provide an indispensable service within the healthcare system. This issue is expected to worsen, especially given the aging population of baby-boomers, which includes those that are part of the nurse workforce. This has resulted in a wide variety of problems, including patient safety issues, inability to detect complications, and potential patient mortality rate increases. Nurse shortage implications go beyond healthcare quality, extending to health economics as well. Inaccurate estimates of the nursing resources required to satisfy patient demand in a hospital environment could make …


Models Using The Benefits Of Cross Training Policies To Tackle Nurse Shortage Crisis, Jomon Paul, Leo Macdonald May 2014

Models Using The Benefits Of Cross Training Policies To Tackle Nurse Shortage Crisis, Jomon Paul, Leo Macdonald

Leo MacDonald

This paper seeks to offer insight into cross training strategies that could be effective in aiding in alleviating the nurse shortage issue and its potential to negatively impact on patient safety and mortality. We develop optimization models to evaluate the benefits of cross-training, in particular chaining practices, on nurse workforce planning under stochastic demand, and determine the optimal allocation of both regular and cross-trained staff at a minimum cost. We demonstrate the benefits of cross-training in terms of a reduction in the total number of nurses required to satisfy demand across multiple departments as well as from an economic (i.e. …


A Model To Study Disparities And Lifetime Medical Costs, Jomon Aliyas Paul, Leo Macdonald, Govind Hariharan May 2014

A Model To Study Disparities And Lifetime Medical Costs, Jomon Aliyas Paul, Leo Macdonald, Govind Hariharan

Leo MacDonald

We develop a mathematical model that captures the complex interactions within the health service system featuring chronic diseases and provides valuable lessons that could assist in controlling escalating healthcare costs. We utilize a Monte Carlo simulation framework to simulate the evolution of a population subject to deaths, births, and disease conditions. The model estimates the lifetime health expenditures of individuals based on demographics including race, age, and gender, as well as risk factors that contribute to the development of specific disease conditions. We further incorporate interactions between multiple disease conditions and the effect of risk factors in chronic disease incidence …