Hybrid expert-system approach to nurse scheduling

The objective of this research was to develop a hybrid expert system entitled NURSE-HELP to achieve flexible and effective scheduling for nurses. NURSE-HELP was developed with the emphasis on following the ergonomics guidelines, which will improve the performance of nurses. Moreover, the combination of linear zero-one goal programming and an expert system program reduces the program run time while maintaining the quality of the schedule. The system was evaluated by comparing 18 sets of 4-week schedules generated by the head nurses manually and by NURSE-HELP. Concerning the amount of time required to generate the schedules, NURSE-HELP averaged less than 20 minutes, whereas head nurses spent from 2 to 4 hours. The quality of the schedules was measured using the following four criteria: 1) minimum staff level not satisfied, 2) day off request not granted, 3) backward rotation, and 4) maximum consecutive work periods on the night shift. NURSE-HELP was superior in all these aspects.