Imagine you are responsible for scheduling the shifts for the nurses in your hospital department for this week. There are three shifts in a day – morning, afternoon, and night – and for each shift, you need to assign one or more of the eight nurses that work in your department. If this sounds like a simple task, take a look at the list of relevant hospital rules:
- A nurse is not allowed to work two consecutive shifts.
- A nurse is not allowed to work more than five shifts per week.
- The number of nurses per shift in your department should fall within the following limits:
- Morning shift: 2–3 nurses
- Afternoon shift: 2–4 nurses
- Night shift: 1–2 nurses
In addition, each nurse can have shift preferences. For example, one nurse prefers to only work morning shifts, another nurse prefers to not work afternoon shifts...