| Learning Objective #1: apply the goal programming to solve the nurse rostering problem based on Taiwan nursing system. | |||
| Learning Objective #2: undestand the proposed model can improve the equitability for each member and maintain the consistency in quality of schedules. |
This study proposed a systematic framework to solve the nurse rostering problem based on Taiwan nursing system. The effective allocation of the nurse workforce is always an important issue for hospitals. However, most of hospitals in Taiwan schedule their nurse workforce according to the staffs' experiences, which is time-consuming and difficult to maintain a consistent quality of workforce schedule. This study applied the goal programming approach to construct a three-phase nurse scheduling model. The model considers the 24-hour three-shift working system with the aid of the floating shift and also takes the individual preferences into account. A case study based the real data from a hospital in Taiwan is used to test the performance of the proposed model. The sensitivity analysis was also performed to ensure the stability and effectiveness of the model. The results were compared with the real schedules in practice. The proposed model can improve the equitability for each member and maintain the consistency in quality of schedules.