A Tabu Search approach to the nurse scheduling problem

Nurse scheduling is the process of allocating shifts for nurses by specifying the sequence of shifts for each nurse in the scheduling period. Generating good schedules for nurses is a very difficult and tedious problem due to the operational of hospital that runs 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Schedule that has work shifts is a big influence on the level of stress and fatigue for nurses, as well as on the quality of social relationship and family. In this paper, a brief overview of three stages Tabu Search heuristic for nurse-scheduling problem (NSP) is presented. The problem is approached via the goal programming method. The goal programming (GP) model for the nurse scheduling problem of this paper focuses on both hospital objectives and nurses’ preferences.