A new two-stage variable neighborhood search algorithm for the nurse rostering problem

The nurse rostering problem refers to the assignment of nurses daily shifts according required demand each shift and day, with consideration for operational requirements nurses’ preferences. This is known be an NP-hard problem, difficult solved using exact solution methods especially large size instances. Mostly, this modeled soft hard constraint, objective set minimize violations constraints. In paper, a new two-stage variable neighborhood search algorithm proposed solving problem. first stage aims at minimizing constraints higher penalty weights in function. While second considers total taking into account all constraint. was tested on 24 benchmark instances Curtois Qu (Technical Report, ASAP Research Group, School Computer Science, University Nottingham (2014)). test results revealed that able compete recent heuristic approach from literature most