Title: A two-step multi-objective mathematical model for nurse scheduling problem considering nurse preferences and consecutive shifts

Authors: Mohammad Mahdi Nasiri; Meysam Rahvar

Addresses: School of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran ' School of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: The nurse scheduling problem (NSP) has received special attention during the recent decades. The difficulty of generating tables manually alongside the shortage of nurses and prohibition of outsourcing nurses has led to hectic schedules in which assigning three consecutive shifts (i.e., 24 hour shift) to a nurse could be seen. Furthermore, nurses' preferences are usually neglected because the concentration is on meeting the nursing requirements. In this paper, we propose a multi-objective mathematical model in which we tackle the main inefficiency of the system (i.e., three consecutive shifts). We also try to maximise nurses' preferences. In addition to the presentation of a new mathematical model, we use the novel method of augmented epsilon constraint to generate several tables. To deal with the complexity of NSP, we use a two-step approach. We find the efficient solutions over the Pareto set, among which we select the best table.

Keywords: nurse scheduling; multi-objective models; augmented epsilon constraint; consecutive shifts; decision making; nurse preferences; mathematical modelling; healthcare management; hospitals; nurses.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2017.083338

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2017 Vol.27 No.1, pp.83 - 101

Received: 06 Aug 2015
Accepted: 24 Oct 2015

Published online: 24 Mar 2017 *

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