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Automatic Scheduling of Nurses: What Does It Take in Practice?

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Systems Analysis Tools for Better Health Care Delivery

Part of the book series: Springer Optimization and Its Applications ((SOIA,volume 74))

Abstract

Many hospital wards need to be staffed by nurses around the clock every day of the week, and because of that, many nurses have to work irregular hours and according to schedules that have a great impact on their personal lives. Today there is a shortage of nurses in many countries, and in order to make the nursing profession more popular and to ensure high quality health care delivery, it is urgent to try to improve the working conditions for nurses. One possible and already ongoing improvement is that more flexibility and adaptation to personal requests is introduced in the scheduling.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to all the health care representatives that we have been in contact with for sharing your knowledge about nurse scheduling. Special thanks to Elisabet Shimekaw and Ann Andersson, head nurses on the wards in Case studies 1 and 2, respectively, and also to all the nurses working on these wards.

This work was carried out in collaboration between the Department of Mathematics, Linköping University, and SCHEMAGI AB, with financial support from HNV/Vinnova, and with support from LEAD.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics, Linköping University, Linköping, SE-581 83, Sweden

    Elina Rönnberg, Torbjörn Larsson & Ann Bertilsson

  2. SCHEMAGI AB, Mjärdevi Science Park, Teknikringen 7, Linköping, SE-583 30, Sweden

    Ann Bertilsson

Authors
  1. Elina Rönnberg
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  2. Torbjörn Larsson
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  3. Ann Bertilsson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elina Rönnberg .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Industrial & Systems Engin, University of Florida, Weil Hall 401, Gainesville, 32611, Florida, USA

    Panos M. Pardalos

  2. Center for Applied Optimization, Dept. Industrial & Systems, University of Florida, Weil Hall 303, Gainesville, 32611-6595, Florida, USA

    Pando G. Georgiev

  3. , Ministry of Education and Sciences, National Agency for Exams, Rruga Naim Frasheri, Nr. 37, Tirana, 32611, Albania

    Petraq Papajorgji

  4. James A. Haley VA Medical Center, Bruce B. Downs Blvd. 13000, Tampa, 33612, Florida, USA

    Britta Neugaard

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Rönnberg, E., Larsson, T., Bertilsson, A. (2013). Automatic Scheduling of Nurses: What Does It Take in Practice?. In: Pardalos, P., Georgiev, P., Papajorgji, P., Neugaard, B. (eds) Systems Analysis Tools for Better Health Care Delivery. Springer Optimization and Its Applications, vol 74. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5094-8_8

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