Optimization of Nurse Scheduling Problem using Genetic Algorithm: A Case Study

Abstract

Nurse scheduling problem is an essential problem in hospital, especially in emergency department. Emergency department is very busy unit in hospital because it receives patients in emergency situation, therefore nurses in this department are obliged to be ready for 24 hours. Working hours allocation of nurses in this department is not equally, so nurse's preferences cannot be fulfilled yet. In this study, genetic algorithms are used to minimize unfulfilled preferences of nurse that called violations. Genetic algorithm represents solution candidate using random chromosomes. The selection used is elitist, the crossover used is one point cut crossover, and mutation used is reciprocal exchange mutation. Based on experiment, the optimal parameters are obtained, size of population is 80, mutation rate is 0.01, and iteration is 10000. Result is schedule of nurses for 30 days in emergency department that generated 74 violations.