Strategic workforce optimization in healthcare using AI

Important results from the project

Yes. We have designed, developed and tested functionality for strategic scheduling in health and social care: saving and reusing planning parameters, simulating staffing scenarios and comparing their consequences. The project also deepened our insight into user needs, and we added support for identifying and analysing conflicts between scheduling rules – a key prerequisite for scenario work. The functionality is in production use by customers.

Expected long term effects

Health and social care providers can plan staffing over a longer time horizon and test future scenarios before decisions are made. This gives everyone from unit managers to decision-makers a shared, data-based foundation, and thus better conditions for staffing that holds over time. Long term, it is expected to contribute to a more secure supply of staffing and better working conditions in a strongly female-dominated sector.

Approach and implementation

The project was carried out in work packages: user research, UX/UI design, technical planning, development, testing, and evaluation and adjustment. A team of five worked in an agile way with continuous user feedback. The application stated that the technical work packages were preliminary and might be reassessed. This is what happened: we added a package for rule conflict handling, where user value proved greatest. The timeline held.