Integrating nurse shift and day-off schedulling with binary preference

Abstract

To most hospitals in Vietnam, planning out the working shifts and day-off timetables are generally manmade. This practice is absolutely time-consuming and it requires a great amount of effort. Furthermore, there are numerous of constraints might not be taken into account very well. Sometimes, the chief nurse can’t resolve the issues as there are great number of nurses and staffs to consider. Hence, mathematical models are undeniably to be constructed to boost the effectiveness of the scheduling tables for nurse shifts and day-off, and consequently increase the nursing performance and their recreational life. This study quote the model which is proposed by Hsia (2009), to locate an ideal working shift timetables for the staff. Afterwards, an analysis and construction on day-off model would be executed to seek for an ideal day-off schedule. This study could incorporate the working shift and day-off scheduling models that satisfy the nurses’ preferences. The usage of this research would enhance the performances of all the staffs and save massive effort and time. Keywords: nurse scheduling problem; binary variables; shift scheduling; day-off scheduling; nurses’ preferences.