A multi-objective optimization approach for a nurse scheduling problem considering the fatigue factor (case study: Labbafinejad Hospital)

The current study, according to ergonomic factors, aims to model the nurses’ work shift scheduling problem. Considering the urgent needs of the hospitals in providing better services to patients, it seems significant to take the preferences of nurses in scheduling shifts into account. Therefore, in this paper, a multi-objective model of nurses’ scheduling with emphasis on reducing their fatigue during the career shift is presented. To evaluate the outputs of the model, two numerical instances in small and large sizes with real data of Labbafinejad Hospital were designed in 18-person and 90-person wards. To solve a small size problem, a comprehensive standard decision method is employed, the results of which showed that nurses take their most rest during the night shift and in the middle of their working hours to reduce fatigue. Furthermore, due to the NP-Hard nature of the nurses' scheduling problem, in the problem of the 90-person ward, MOPSO and NSGA II algorithms are applied based on the design of a new chromosome. Using the TOPSIS method and entropy weighting method shows that the designed NSGA II algorithm can solve the nurses’ scheduling problem of Labbafinejad Hospital faster and better.

Keywords:

Combined optimization , Nurses’ Scheduling , Ergonomic , fatigue , meta-heuristic algorithm