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Contribution to Book
Novel Recursive Technique for Finding the Optimal Solution of the Nurse Scheduling Problem
School of Computer Science & Engineering Faculty Publications
  • Samah Senbel, Sacred Heart University
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
1-1-2019
Abstract

Solving the Nurse Scheduling problem Is a major research area in Operations Research. Due to it being an NP-Hard problem, most researchers develop a heuristic solution for it The NSP has several constraints that need to be satisfied: several mandatory “hard” constraints that reflect hospital requirements, and several optional “soft constraints" that reflect the nurses' preferences. In this paper, we present a recursive solution to the problem that makes use of those constraints to shrink the search space and obtain results in a reasonable amount of lime. We present two variations of the solution. a nurse-by-nurse method of building the optimal schedule, and a shift-by-shift approach. Both variations were implemented and tested with various scenarios and the shift-by-shift solution provided much better results. The solution can also be modified easily to provide fair long-term scheduling,

Comments

ISBN 9783030228712 (e-book)

Includes the proceedings of the Computing Conference 2019 held in London, United Kingdom, on July 16–17, 2019.

Citation Information

Senbel, S. (2019). Novel recursive technique for finding the optimal solution of the nurse scheduling problem. In K. Arai, R. Bhatia, R., & S. Kapoor (Eds.), Intelligent Computing: Proceedings of the Computing Conference (pp. 359-375). Cham: Springer.