Designing and piloting a mobile application for fair and objective nurse scheduling: a design-based study

Area of Science:

• Nursing Informatics
• Healthcare Management
• Software Development

Background:

• Effective nurse scheduling requires balancing nurse-patient ratios with individual nurse skills, experience, and preferences.
• Current manual scheduling methods can be subjective and time-consuming.
• Prioritizing fairness and objectivity in nurse scheduling is crucial for staff morale and efficient hospital operations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a mobile application for fair, objective, fast, and systematic nurse scheduling.
• To assess nurse satisfaction with the developed mobile scheduling application.

Main Methods:

• A constraint-based model (soft and hard constraints) was developed for nurse scheduling.
• A mobile application, "Hospital Nurse Scheduling," was created for Android and iOS devices.
• A pilot study involving 12 oncology nurses evaluated the application's functionality and usability over one month.

Main Results:

• Nurses found the application user-friendly and faster than manual scheduling.
• The application was perceived as more objective and fairer, incorporating nurse preferences.
• Overall nurse satisfaction with the mobile application was high, averaging 8 out of 10.

Conclusions:

• Mobile applications offer an efficient solution for preparing complex work schedules.
• The developed application demonstrates potential for improving the fairness and efficiency of nurse scheduling.
• Further implementation and evaluation with diverse nursing staff are warranted.