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

Nurse scheduling should prioritize fairness and objectivity, considering not only the nurse-patient ratio but also the skills, experiences, competencies, and preferences of nurses.

This design-based study was conducted to develop a mobile application that ensures fair, objective, fast and systematic scheduling and to evaluate the satisfaction of nurses with the developed application.

We first created a model that included soft and hard constraints and developed the "Hospital Nurse Scheduling," which can be downloaded to smartphones with Android and IOS operating systems.

A pilot study with 12 nurses working in the oncology department of a university hospital was conducted to test the functionality and usability of the mobile application.

The nurses were asked to install the application on their smartphones, use it for one month, and complete the evaluation form at the end of the month. The application was designed for clinical nurses, charge nurses, and nurse managers; however, the pilot study was conducted only with clinical and charge nurses.

Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

The participants believed that the application was user-friendly, faster than manually prepared work schedules, more objective, fairer in scheduling, and considered nurse preferences. The overall satisfaction with the application was rated at 8 out of 10 points, indicating a high level of contentment.

Mobile applications provide efficient means for preparing work schedules.