Synopsis

on

Hybrid Genetic Algorithm approach for

Nurse Scheduling Support System
Sital Sharma

160913003

Tebby Thomas

160913004

In partial fulfilment of requirements for the award of degree in Master of Technology

Computer Sc. & Engineering. (2016-2017)
August 17, 2016

Abstract
Nurse scheduling problem (NSP) is the problem of determining a reasonable and efficient work
schedule for Nurses. NSP falls under the category of combinatorial optimization problem, thus
this problems is NP-hard and its solutions require problem specific approaches within a
general algorithmic framework. There is a growing demand for practical automatic nurse
scheduling systems in the medical industry. Therefore this work proposes an efficient approach
to develop a nurse scheduling support system using the Hybrid Genetic Algorithm. The
proposed system is required to produce high-quality schedules with a short computation time
for good humanmachine interaction. This project proposes a method that combines heuristics
with genetic operations for generating good schedules quickly, especially for satisfying the
equality among nurses.

1. Motivation
The Nurse Scheduling Problem is an interesting problem in Computer Science that has been
studied since 1969 [2]. It is a very practical problem faced in todays medical industry. This
problem is special because it is a combinatorial optimization problem whose characteristics are
such that they are similar to many constrained scheduling problems across many fields. There
are a number of IEEE papers related to this topic even as recent as 2015. This problem is of
type NP-Hard complexity [2]. So any improvements or potential solutions can have a massive
impact in the world of computing.
Besides these technical reasons, both group members have parents working in the medical
sector so that acts as added bonus for us to try our hand at solving a significant problem in this
field.
2. Problem Statement
To propose an efficient hybrid Genetic Algorithm (GA) based approach for Nurse Scheduling
support system.
3. Method
The head nurse prepares the nurse schedule. The schedule is usually prepared for a month.
Preparation of the schedule involves various factors such as making sure that all shifts have
nurses, making sure that nurses do not have consecutive shifts, taking the expertise of nurses
into account, making sure that every shift has an appropriate balance of nurse expertise and
so on. We propose to accomplish this by using a hybrid genetic algorithm to develop an
interactive nurse scheduling support. This system needs the prior input of sufficient evaluation
rules. This system generates the candidate schedules based on provisional evaluation
functions. The head nurse can modify parts of candidate schedules. The system reschedules
the parts that need improvement. By repeating this process, an appropriate schedule can be
developed. The flow of this system is shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1 Interactive Nurse Scheduling Support

Proposed algorithms to tackle the nurse-scheduling problem include:
Algorithm:
1. N initial chromosomes are generated in the chromosome pool
2. Two parent chromosomes are randomly chosen from the chromosome
pool.

new

child

chromosome

is

generated

by

one

point

crossover.
3. The fitness value of the child chromosome is compared with
that of each chromosome of the chromosome pool. If the new
chromosome is inferior to some of the chromosomes in the pool,
an inferior chromosome is randomly selected and replaced with
the new one. If not, this new child is discarded.
4. Steps ii. And iii. Are repeated until stopping condition is
satisfied.
Combination of the Proposed Method and Conventional Mutation
Algorithm:
1. One parent chromosome is randomly chosen from the chromosome
pool.
2. Copying

the

parent

chromosome

in

generates N new child chromosomes.

3. One chromosome is randomly chosen

the
from

sub-chromosome
the

pool

sub-chromosome

pool. A chromosome is generated by copying this chromosome.

4. Mutation is applied to the whole portion of the copied
chromosome.
5. The fitness value of the mutated chromosome is compared with
that of each chromosome in the sub-chromosome pool. If the new

chromosome is superior to some of the chromosomes in the subpool an inferior chromosome is randomly selected and replaced
with

the

new

one.

If

not,

this

mutated

chromosome

is

discarded.
6. Steps iii. To v. are repeated N times.
7. The fitness value of a chromosome in the sub-pool is compared
with

that

of

each

chromosome

in

the

chromosomes

in

the

chromosome
sub-pool

is

main-pool

in

the

main

superior
an

to

inferior

pool.

If

the

some

of

the

chromosome

is

randomly selected and replaced with the one in the sub-pool.

If not, this chromosome in the sub-pool is discarded.

4. (Expected) Analyses and Results

Each nurse is assigned one of three shifts. The schedule in Fig 2 is for a period of 14 days.
The symbol D denotes the day shift (2:00 PM - 8:00 PM), N is the night shift (8:00 PM - 8:00
AM), and M is the Morning shift (8:00 AM2:00 PM). A box without any symbol means a day
off. In the three rows at the bottom of the schedule, the allocated numbers of staff in each shift
is shown. The left-most column describes the nurses skill level. A skill level of A means that
he/she is an expert in nursing. A skill level of C indicates a nurse has no prior work
experience. A skill level of B indicates that the nurse has some work experience. The four
right-most columns describe the allocated days to each shift to each nurse.
There are many constraints associated with this type of scheduling. 3 such constraints are:
i.
Every shift has to have nurses working in it.
ii.
A nurse cannot have a day shift followed immediately by a Night shift.
iii.
One or nurses of skill type A need to be allotted to every shift.
A more detailed description of a typical nursing schedule is given in Fig 2. In this schedule,
nurses are (Staff A-J).

Fig 2. A sample nurse schedule

5. Related Work
Some pioneering solution approaches for NSP include mathematical programming, constraint
logic programming, constructive heuristic, expert systems, genetic algorithms, simple local
search, simulated annealing, tabu search, and knowledge based systems, artificial neural
networks and hybrid systems. [4] Used a tabu search strategy to exploit the problem structure
within a GA framework. Cheng et al. [5] employed constraint programming and redundant slot
modelling to achieve a feasible solution for NSPs. Another characteristic approach employing
metahueristics is the work of [6] that is based on the simulated annealing algorithm. In multi
objective nurse scheduling problem, a characteristic feature is that there are a number of
objectives and most of them are in conflict with each other. Some recent papers have been
presented to solve the nurse scheduling problem using genetic algorithms. [7] [8] are the two
noticeable works of this type. However, the solutions provided by these two papers have some
important

drawbacks.

6. Conclusion
Nurse scheduling is a very complex and tedious task, the study says that a chief nurse spends
over a week or two for preparing the schedule for the nurse by hand, this means the great loss
of time and work force. Therefore there is a great demand of an efficient nurse schedule
support system in general hospitals. This project proposes an efficient approach for Nurse
scheduling problem using hybrid genetic algorithm to displays some of the best schedules to
the user. It gives the liberty to the user to decide which parts of the schedules to adopt, or to be
improved. The system reschedules the parts that need improvement. By repeating this
process, the system and the user work together to find a satisfactory schedule. The system
can also update its evaluation criteria by incorporating the users idea reflected on her
modifications of candidate schedules.

7. References
[1] Takeshi Inoue, Takeshi Furuhashi, A Proposal of Combined Method of Evolutionary
Algorithm and Heuristics for Nurse Scheduling Support System in IEEE transactions on
industrial electronics, vol. 50, no. 5, october 2003.
[2] Lagatie, Ruben; Haspeslagh, Stefaan; De Causmaecker, Patrick (2009). "Negotiation
Protocols for Distributed Nurse Rostering" (PDF). Eindhoven University of Technology
Department of Computer Science. 14 February 2014.
[3] Makoto Ohki, Satoru Kishida, A Paramter Free Algorithm of Cooperative Genetic Algorithm
For Nurse Scheduling Problem in Advances in Computing, Communications and Informatics
(ICACCI), 2013 International Conference on 25 Aug 2013.
[4] Aickelin, U., Dowsland, K. A., Exploiting problem structure in a genetic algorithm approach
to a nurse rostering problem, Journal of Scheduling, vol. 3, pp. 139-153, 2000.
[5] Cheng, B. M. W., Lee, J. H. M., & Wu, J. C. K. (1996). A nurse rostering system using
constraint programming and redundant modeling. Technical report, Department of Computer
Science and Engineering at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
[6] Burke E.K., Li J.* and Qu R. (2008): Pareto-Based Optimization for Multi-objective Nurse
Scheduling", (accepted) Annals of Operations Research.
[7] Tutuncu, G. Y., and Chilcott, B.J., A genetic algorithm approach to the nurse scheduling
problem with fuzzy preferences, IMA Journal of Management Mathematics Page 1 of 15,
2008.
[8] Aickelin, U., E.K. Burke, and J. Li, An Estimation of Distribution Algorithm with Intelligent
Local Search for Rule-based Nurse Rostering. Accepted for publication in the Journal of the
Operational Research Society, 2007.