title: A decision support system to meet the fluctuating needs of a hospital nursing unit.
abstract: Regardless of the care taken in generating a nursing unit staff schedule, changes in patient census and acuity as well as staff illnesses and unexpected absenteeism create unanticipated "gaps" in a schedule. Due to a lack of timely information on staff availability and nursing preferences, filling these vacancies can be costly and time consuming. We propose that by combining a revised staffing structure with an integrated database management system, a decision support system can be developed. This can enable non-management staff to make substantial time and cost saving decisions while maintaining the highest level of patient care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: A Y
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Asa
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Carter
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Nagle
mesh_terms: D003660:Decision Support Systems, Management; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D009864:Ontario; D010562:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling Information Systems