An integrated nurse scheduling model.

Hospitals provide continuous service, including during holidays. This requirement causes discontent among hospital personnel, including nurses, and is often cited as one cause of the nurse shortage. This discontent and the pressure on hospitals to limit costs highlight the importance of nurse scheduling. This paper describes an integrated scheduling model that satisfies the interests of both hospitals and nurses. The model accommodates flexible work patterns by incorporating time-of-day and day-of-week scheduling problems. Testing of the model is also presented.