Integer Goal Programming Model for Nursing Scheduling: A Case Study

No shortage of one nurse allowed in any shift since there is no nursing agent in Taiwan. The reallocation of one nurse in some unit to another unit is not usual. Furthermore, nurses are used to request a certain shift or a day-off on some certain days. The workload for each shift is determined by the hospital and the Department of Health. The remaining job for a head nurse is to assign a specific shift assignment to the nurses in her/his own unit. A model is proposed to help a head nurse for the above nursing scheduling problem. Firstly, the nurses in a unit split into several groups. Secondly, the nurses are assigned their specific shift assignment/day-off in a two-week palnning horizon by an integer goal programming (GP) model.