ENBIS: European Network for Business and Industrial Statistics

Workforce Planning at a Hospital Blood Bank Using Data Mining Methods

22 September 2009, 14:45 – 15:05

Abstract

Submitted by

Murat Caner Testik

Authors

Murat Caner Testik, Banu Yuksel Ozkaya

Affiliation

Hacettepe University, Department of Industrial Engineering, Ankara/Turkey

Abstract

A critical measure of service quality at hospital blood banks is the waiting times experienced by donors during the blood donation process. Better workforce planning may significantly reduce the waiting times of the donors, however, utilization of the workforce is also a concern in managerial decisions. Furthermore, donor arrival rates at blood banks are generally nonconstant over time and workforce planning becomes a challenging managerial task. In the following, we use data mining methods to identify time segments with similar donor arrival patterns and show how to use these time segments for better workforce planning. Data mining approach consists of clustering analysis followed by a decision tree analysis. A real implementation at Hacettepe University Hospital’s Blood Bank is used to illustrate the proposed approach.

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