A 0-1 goal programming model for nurse scheduling

Abstract

In this study, a computerized nurse-scheduling model is developed. The model is approached through a 0-1 linear goal program. It is adapted to Riyadh Al-Kharj hospital Program (in Saudi Arabia) to improve the current manual-made schedules. The developed model accounts both for hospital objectives and nurses' preferences, in addition to considering some recommended policies that are displayed in the literature. Hospital objectives include ensuring a continuous service with appropriate nursing skills and staffing size, while avoiding additional costs for unnecessary overtime. Nurses preferences, which are deduced from a survey conducted on-purpose for the sake of this study, include mainly fairness considerations, in terms of ratio of night shifts and weekends off, in addition to avoiding isolated days on and off. The model is implemented in an experimental phase of six-month period using LINGO and is considered to perform reasonably well, based both on some quality criteria displayed in the literature and on the feedback obtained from a second survey, that has been developed to assess the scheduling system performance. © 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.