Abstract
A novel nurse rostering model is developed to represent real world problem instances more accurately. The proposed model is generic in the sense that it allows modelling of essentially different problem instances. Novel local search neighbourhoods are implemented to take advantage of the problem properties represented by the model. These neighbourhoods are used in a variable neighbourhood search and in an adaptive large neighbourhood search algorithm. The performance of the solution method is evaluated empirically on real world data. The proposed model is open to further extensions for covering personnel planning problems in different sectors and countries.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aickelin, U., & Li, J. (2007). An estimation of distribution algorithm for nurse scheduling. Annals of Operations Research, 155(1), 289–309.
Bard, J. F., & Purnomo, H. W. (2007). Cyclic preference scheduling of nurses using a Lagrangian-based heuristic. Journal of Scheduling, 10(1), 5–23.
Beliën, J., & Demeulemeester, E. (2007). On the trade-off between staff-decomposed and activity-decomposed column generation for a staff scheduling problem. Annals of Operations Research, 155(1), 143–166.
Bellanti, F., Carello, G., Della Croce, F., & Tadei, R. (2004). A greedy-based neighborhood search approach to a nurse rostering problem. European Journal of Operational Research, 127(1), 28–40.
Bilgin, B. (2008). Project web page of automation of nurse rostering in Belgian hospitals. http://allserv.kahosl.be/~burak/project.html.
Bourdais, S., Galinier, P., & Pesant, G. (2003). HIBISCUS: A constraint programming application to staff scheduling in health care. In Lecture notes in computer science : Vol. 2833 (pp. 153–167). Berlin: Springer.
Brucker, P., Qu, R., Burke, E. K., & Post, G. (2005). A decomposition, construction and post-processing approach for a specific nurse rostering problem. In Proceedings of multidisciplinary international conference on scheduling: theory and applications, Aug, 2005, New York (pp. 397–406).
Brucker, P., Burke, E. K., Curtois, T., Qu, R., & Vanden Berghe, G. (2010). A shift sequence based approach for nurse scheduling and a new benchmark dataset. Journal of Heuristics, 16(4), 559–573. doi:10.1007/s10732-008-9099-6.
Burke, E. K., Cowling, P. I., De Causmaecker, P., & Vanden Berghe, G. (2001a). A memetic approach to the nurse rostering problem. Applied Intelligence, 15(3), 199–214.
Burke, E. K., De Causmaecker, P., Petrovic, S., & Vanden Berghe, G. (2001b). Fitness evaluation for nurse scheduling problems. In Proceedings of the 2001 congress on evolutionary computation CEC2001 (pp. 1139–1146). New York: IEEE Press.
Burke, E. K., Kendall, G., & Soubeiga, E. (2003). A tabu-search hyperheuristic for timetabling and rostering. Journal of Heuristics, 9(6), 451–470.
Burke, E. K., De Causmaecker, P., & Vanden Berghe, G. (2004a). Novel Metaheuristic Approaches to Nurse Rostering Problems in Belgian Hospitals. In Handbook of scheduling: algorithms, models and performance analysis (pp. 44.1–44.18). Boca Raton: CRC Press.
Burke, E. K., De Causmaecker, P., Vanden Berghe, G., & Van Landeghem, H. (2004b). The state of the art of nurse rostering. Journal of Scheduling, 7(6), 441–499.
Burke, E. K., Curtois, T., Post, G., Qu, R., & Veltman, B. (2008). A hybrid heuristic ordering and variable neighbourhood search for the nurse rostering problem. European Journal of Operational Research, 188(2), 330–341.
Burke, E. K., Curtois, T., Qu, R., & Vanden Berghe, G. (2009). A scatter search approach to the nurse rostering problem. Journal of the Operational Research Society (accepted for publication).
Curtois, T. (2009). The nurse rostering benchmark data set of the university of nottingham. http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/tec/NRP/.
De Causmaecker, P., & Vanden Berghe, G. (2003). Relaxation of coverage constraints in hospital personnel rostering. In Lecture notes in computer science : Vol. 2740 (pp. 129–147). Berlin: Springer.
De Causmaecker, P., & Vanden Berghe, G. (2009). Categorisation of personnel rostering problems. Working Paper K.U. Leuven.
Frøyseth, H., Stølevik, M., & Riise, A. (2008). A heuristic approach for solving real world nurse rostering. In The 7th international conference on the practice and theory of automated timetabling, PATAT 2008, Montreal (p. 5).
Gaspero, L. D., & Schaerf, A. (2002). Multi-neighbourhood local search with application to course timetabling. In E. K. Burke & P. D. Causmaecker (Eds.), Lecture notes in computer science : Vol. 2740. PATAT (pp. 262–275). Berlin: Springer.
Glass, C. A., & Knight, R. A. (2010). The nurse rostering problem: a critical appraisal of the problem structure. European Journal of Operational Research, 202(2), 379–389.
Hansen, P., & Mladenović, N. (2003). Variable neighborhood search. In Handbook of metaheuristics (pp. 145–184). Berlin: Springer.
Maenhout, B., & Vanhoucke, M. (2007). An electromagnetic meta-heuristic for the nurse scheduling problem. Journal of Heuristics, 13(4), 359–385.
Maenhout, B., & Vanhoucke, M. (2008). Comparison and hybridization of crossover operators for the nurse scheduling problem. Annals of Operations Research, 159(1), 333–353.
Özcan, E. (2007). Memes, self-generation and nurse rostering. In Lecture notes in computer science : Vol. 3867 (pp. 85–104). Berlin: Springer.
Pesant, G. (2008). Constraint-based rostering. In The 7th international conference on the practice and theory of automated timetabling, PATAT 2008, Montreal (p. 11).
Petrovic, S., & Vanden Berghe, G. (2008). Comparison of algorithms for nurse rostering problems. In The 7th international conference on the practice and theory of automated timetabling, PATAT 2008, Montreal (p. 18).
Pisinger, D., & Ropke, S. (2007). A general heuristic for vehicle routing problems. Computers & Operations Research, 34(8), 2403–2435.
Schaerf, A., & Di Gaspero, L. (2007). Measurability and reproducibility in university timetabling research: discussion and proposals. In Lecture notes in computer science : Vol. 3867 (pp. 40–49). Berlin: Springer.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bilgin, B., De Causmaecker, P., Rossie, B. et al. Local search neighbourhoods for dealing with a novel nurse rostering model. Ann Oper Res 194, 33–57 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-010-0804-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-010-0804-0