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Reference.org
Nurse scheduling problem
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<p>The nurse scheduling problem (NSP), also called the nurse rostering problem (NRP), is the <a href="/facts/Operations_research/H5yJkV5n">operations research</a> problem of finding an optimal way to assign nurses to shifts, typically with a set of <a href="/facts/Hard_constraint/tJuCmQ4b">hard constraints</a> which all valid solutions must follow, and a set of soft constraints which define the relative quality of valid solutions. Solutions to the nurse scheduling problem can be applied to constrained scheduling problems in other fields. </p><p>While research on computer-assisted employee scheduling goes back to the 1950s, the nurse scheduling problem in its current form was introduced in two parallel publications in 1976. It is known to have <a href="/facts/NP-hard/mQeNPv4R">NP-hard</a> complexity. </p>