Quality in fives: on the analysis, operationalization and application of nursing schedule quality

The objective of this study was to develop nurse scheduling support in such a way that it increased the performance of a nursing unit (i.e. effectiveness, efficiency and job satisfaction). The approach designed to attain this objective focused on the operationalization of the causal relation between the nursing schedule and this performance (i.e. the nursing schedule quality). This study showed how to analyze, operationalize and apply the concept of nursing schedule quality. The analysis was based on the search for independent factors. The operationalization used the communality among nurse schedulers about the interpretation of these factors. And finally, the application showed the effectiveness of informing nurse schedulers about the values of these factors. Therefore, this study showed that task of nurse scheduling can be effectively supported by means of ‘Quality Indication Scheduling’. This approach supports the nurse scheduler by providing quality indicators that measure the schedule’s value for each of the quins of quality factors.