Modeling shift workers' scheduling desires: an application involving nursing personnel

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Operations Research
• Nursing Informatics

Background:

• Optimizing nurse schedules is crucial for hospital operations and staff satisfaction.
• Current scheduling systems often fail to adequately incorporate individual nurse preferences.
• Balancing staffing requirements with nurse work-life balance remains a challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and present the first mathematical model for quantifying nurse scheduling desires.
• To create a computerized scheduling program that integrates nurse preferences with operational needs.
• To ensure fairness in nurse schedule assignments.

Main Methods:

• Developed a mathematical model to calculate the desirability of every possible schedule for each nurse.
• Modeled nurse preferences based on shift assignments, day-off patterns, and tour splitting.
• Utilized preference scores to inform a computerized scheduling program for assignments and tracking.

Main Results:

• The developed model accounts for an average of 81% of the variance in nurse scheduling preferences.
• Demonstrated the feasibility of integrating individual nurse preferences into automated scheduling.
• The model provides a quantitative measure for fairness in schedule distribution.

Conclusions:

• The proposed model offers a significant advancement in personalized nurse scheduling.
• Computerized scheduling incorporating nurse preferences can improve job satisfaction and operational efficiency.
• This approach provides a foundation for fairer and more desirable nurse work schedules.