Nurse Rostering Using Fuzzy Logic: A Case Study

In this paper, the researchers used fuzzy set theory for modeling flexible constraints and uncertain data in nurse scheduling problem and proposed a fuzzy linear model for nurse rostering problem. The developed model can produce rosters that satisfy hospital objectives, wards requirements and staff preferences by satisfying their requests as far as possible. Fuzzy sets are used for modeling demands of personnel in each shift. The objective is to identify the optimum roster for nurses to complete the weekly roster with fuzzy constraints. The model is implemented for the data collected from Namazi Hospital (NH) of Shiraz, the largest hospital in the southern of Iran. After modeling, this problem is solved by using Lingo software. Finally the researchers compare the result of fuzzy rosters with goal programming rosters that they modeled before and with manual rosters that are produced by head nurses of NH.

Keywords:

nurse rostering , nurse scheduling , fuzzy linear programming