Building Better Nurse Scheduling Algorithms

Aickelin, Uwe and White, Paul (2004) Building Better Nurse Scheduling Algorithms. Annals of Operations Research, 128, . pp. 159-177.

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Abstract

The aim of this research is twofold: Firstly, to model and solve a complex nurse scheduling problem with an integer programming formulation and evolutionary algorithms. Secondly, to detail a novel statistical method of comparing and hence building better scheduling algorithms by identifying successful algorithm modifications. The comparison method captures the results of algorithms in a single figure that can then be compared using traditional statistical techniques. Thus, the proposed method of comparing algorithms is an objective procedure designed to assist in the process of improving an algorithm. This is achieved even when some results are non-numeric or missing due to infeasibility. The final algorithm outperforms all previous evolutionary algorithms, which relied on human expertise for modification.

Item Type:Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:Nurse scheduling, evolutionary algorithms, integer programming, statistical comparison method
Schools/Departments:Faculty of Science > School of Computer Science and Information Technology
ID Code:288
Deposited By:Aickelin, Professor Uwe
Deposited On:10 Nov 2005
Last Modified:04 Dec 2007 11:10

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