A Decision Support System For Skill-Based Nurse Scheduling In An Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

The main target of health institutions is to provide the health services needed by society at the desired quality with the lowest possible cost. Considering the total number of employees in health institutions, nurse assignment and scheduling have an essential role in increasing efficiency and improving service quality due to the one-to-one interaction of nurses with patients. This study proposes a nurse scheduling model based on nurses’ skill levels incorporated into a decision support system. The skill level of nurses is assessed using Analytic Hierarchy Process and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution method based on eight criteria. The nurse scheduling problem is then modeled with 0-1 Goal Programming, considering the skill assessment as a constraint. The practicality of the proposed model is examined for the assignment and scheduling conditions of nurses at the 3rd level of surgical intensive care in a general hospital, and the valuable aspects of the proposed approach are discussed. When the proposed solution is compared with the current situation, it is realized that one nurse is saved without worsening the constraints.