Nurse scheduling using binary fuzzy goal programming

Nurse scheduling problem (NSP) is a complex optimization problem of determining schedule for nurses by considering some constraints such as legal regulations, nurses' preferences, hospital policies and requirements. It is a difficult and time consuming task to deal with large problems with many constraints. In addition to this, in real world application, a person who prepared this schedule (e.g. head nurse), may be unable to state exact aspiration levels to the goals cause of system's uncertainties. So in this study, a multi objective integer programming model for NSP is proposed and then based on this model, Chang' binary fuzzy goal programming approach [1] is applied our problem. Finally a case study which is applied to a hospital in Konya, Turkey is presented to demonstrate the efficiency of the model.