[mjevans]

I had similar thoughts, except with 4s.

For the first 4 hours they take patients (and shadow some of the persisting cases from other doctors).

For the next 4 hours, they're purely cleanup/handoff... EXCEPT in the case that a major crisis happens. Things extend 4 hours at a time in that case.

This would, however, mean staggering the doctors in 6 different shifts that could each handle the ingress load for their ramp up period.

Naturally doctors that are 'morning' or 'evening' people should be binned in to shifts compatible with their biological schedules.

[Spooky23]

Where do you get the 5-6 doctors to make up the difference since you're working a short shift plus pairing with another doctor for half your shift?

[mjevans]

Think of the 'doctor slots' as cutting blades with overlap.

The first four hours (half shift) the doctors are taking in new patients. In the next four hours they aren't taking them in, they're finishing processing and starting to pass them off to the next shift if they appear to be complex cases.