Integer Linear Programming Applied to Nurses Rostering Problem

A. A. Maidamisa, H. A. Odiniya

Abstract: The paper extended the work of (Satheeshkumar et al. , 2014) by employing a different approach to solve a nurse scheduling problem in order to ascertain whether the new approach produce better result than the previous method. The problem is formulated into an integer linear programming model. A computer software known as QM for windows version 2.0 is used to solve the integer linear program on a I7 Intel core processor personal computer. The optimal result found has minimize the number of workforce to 300 as against 303.33 that was produce when linear programming model is applied and a balance schedule across the wards in the hospital. The significance of this findings cannot be over emphases since, the difference of 3.33 in terms of people is meaninglessness. The paper applies a novel approach to find solution to a practical problem of paramount importance to the development of health care system.

Keywords: scheduling, Integer linear programming, optimization algorithm