A model for scheduling drug deliveries in a french homecare1

In this paper, we deal with a drug delivery problem in a French homecare. The carriers are assigned to specific areas and must visit each patient once a day while minimizing the total travelled distance. In this context, we propose to explore four strategies of delivery: (i) starting deliveries when a specified number of deliveries is achieved, (ii) starting deliveries if a specified distance is reached regarding to the planned deliveries, (iii) starting deliveries on a fixed number of deliveries per carrier and, (vi) starting deliveries on fixed hours. We introduce a mixed linear program which takes into account various constraints and minimize the total travelled distance. The results obtained for each strategy are compared in order to identify which one is the most efficient to solve the drug delivery problem at the homecare.