The nurse scheduling problem in real-life.

Area of Science:

• Operations Research
• Healthcare Management
• Computer Science

Background:

• Hospital nurse scheduling is complex, involving regular care unit teams and flexible float teams to cover shortages.
• Current scheduling methods rely on manual approaches or costly commercial software, presenting a dilemma for managers.
• There is a need for accessible, efficient, and cost-effective solutions for nurse scheduling.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a simple, flexible heuristic approach for optimizing nursing team schedules.
• To provide a low-cost alternative to manual scheduling or expensive commercial tools.
• To improve the quality and efficiency of nurse scheduling processes.

Main Methods:

• Development of a multi-objective model and heuristic algorithm for nurse scheduling.
• Implementation of the heuristic approach using spreadsheet software for ease of use.
• Comparative analysis against a commercial optimization solver (CPLEX) to assess performance.

Main Results:

• The proposed heuristic approach demonstrates comparable performance to the CPLEX solver.
• The method is flexible, easy to implement, and requires minimal financial investment.
• The approach leads to a streamlined scheduling process and enhanced schedule quality for nurses.

Conclusions:

• The developed heuristic approach offers a viable, low-cost solution for hospital nurse scheduling.
• It effectively addresses the limitations of manual methods and expensive commercial software.
• This approach empowers managers with a practical tool for creating high-quality nurse schedules.