Paramedics building a schedule clockwork symbolizing optimized EMS staffing.

Cracking the Code: Smart Staff Scheduling for Emergency Medical Services

Lena Voss in Health & Wellness December 2025 • 4 min read.

"Balancing fairness, efficiency, and on-call needs in EMS with innovative scheduling strategies."

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) face a unique challenge: ensuring they have enough staff available at all times. This isn't just about filling slots on a timetable; it's about planning for the unpredictable. Unforeseen employee absences can throw carefully crafted schedules into disarray, which is why on-call duties are so crucial. But how can EMS providers effectively manage these on-call responsibilities without overburdening their staff or sacrificing fairness?

Traditional methods often assign on-call duties as an afterthought. Now, a new study introduces a sophisticated approach to integrate on-call duties directly into staff schedules. By using mathematical models and optimization techniques, this method aims to create fair, efficient, and sustainable schedules that consider employee preferences and operational needs.

This approach not only ensures sufficient ambulance staffing but also aims to boost employee satisfaction, reduce turnover, and ultimately, improve productivity. It's about creating a win-win situation where both the organization and its employees benefit from smarter scheduling.

The Stint-Based Scheduling Solution: Balancing Shifts, Recovery, and On-Call Duties

Paramedics building a schedule clockwork symbolizing optimized EMS staffing.

The cornerstone of this new method is the idea of a 'stint' – a predefined sequence of work shifts. This could be two-day shifts followed by two-night shifts, or any other pattern that fits the needs of the EMS provider and its employees. By scheduling work in these blocks, the model ensures that employees work consecutive days, followed by adequate recovery periods.

The integration of on-call duties is particularly innovative. Instead of tacking them on haphazardly, the model strategically nests on-call duties in between these work stints, during the employees' recovery periods. This prevents disruption to regular work sequences and respects the need for downtime.

Fairness: The model strives to distribute workloads evenly, considering factors like weekend work and shift preferences.
Flexibility: It can accommodate different cycle times for regular and on-call duties, ensuring a smooth rotation.
Efficiency: The stint-based approach greatly reduces the complexity of the planning, making it possible to solve large scheduling problems optimally.

At the heart of this system are mathematical formulations designed to optimize schedules. The model uses set covering techniques, ensuring that all shifts are covered while respecting various constraints. This includes legal requirements, employee preferences, and organizational needs. By striking the right balance, the model minimizes the need for manual adjustments and ensures that schedules are both feasible and fair.

Real-World Impact: Happier Staff, Better Coverage

This innovative scheduling approach has already seen success in a local German EMS provider. By adopting the stint-based model with integrated on-call duties, the organization has been able to replace its manual scheduling process with a streamlined, optimized system. The result? Increased employee satisfaction, reduced planning complexity, and better coverage of ambulance shifts.

About this Article -

This article was crafted using a human-AI hybrid and collaborative approach. AI assisted our team with initial drafting, research insights, identifying key questions, and image generation. Our human editors guided topic selection, defined the angle, structured the content, ensured factual accuracy and relevance, refined the tone, and conducted thorough editing to deliver helpful, high-quality information.See our About page for more information.

This article is based on research published under:

DOI-LINK: 10.1007/s10729-018-9451-9, Alternate LINK

Title: Cyclic Shift Scheduling With On-Call Duties For Emergency Medical Services

Subject: General Health Professions

Journal: Health Care Management Science

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Authors: Tristan Becker, Pia Mareike Steenweg, Brigitte Werners

Published: 2018-07-19

Everything You Need To Know

What challenges do Emergency Medical Services (EMS) face, and how is this addressed?

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) face the constant challenge of ensuring adequate staffing to handle unpredictable events. Traditional scheduling methods often struggle to effectively manage this, frequently leading to understaffing or overburdened personnel. To address this, innovative scheduling strategies are required, specifically the use of 'stint' based scheduling which integrates 'on-call' duties.

What is a 'stint' in the context of staff scheduling?

A 'stint' in this context refers to a predefined sequence of work shifts. This could be a pattern such as two day shifts followed by two night shifts, tailored to the needs of the organization and its employees. The model is designed to schedule work in these 'stint' blocks to ensure that employees work consecutive days and are allotted adequate recovery periods, vital for maintaining their well-being and performance.

How are 'on-call' duties integrated into the schedule, and why is it significant?

The integration of 'on-call' duties is an essential element of the new scheduling model. Instead of haphazardly adding these responsibilities, the model strategically places 'on-call' duties during the employee's recovery periods, between their work 'stints'. This prevents disruptions to the regular work sequence, respecting the need for downtime and promoting a better work-life balance. This also ensures staff is available when needed, while minimizing overwork.

What role do mathematical models play in this staff scheduling approach?

Mathematical models and optimization techniques are central to this scheduling solution. The model utilizes set covering techniques to ensure all shifts are covered, adhering to various constraints such as legal requirements, employee preferences, and operational needs. This process aims to create fair, efficient, and sustainable schedules, reducing the need for manual adjustments and maximizing both schedule feasibility and fairness for the staff.

What are the real-world benefits of this scheduling system?

The innovative 'stint'-based scheduling approach, with integrated 'on-call' duties, has a measurable positive impact. It leads to increased employee satisfaction, reduced planning complexity, and improved coverage of ambulance shifts. The optimization of staffing also lowers employee turnover, thereby boosting productivity. These improvements are evident in the experiences of organizations adopting this method.