The Prevalence of Sleep Deprivation Symptoms among Night Shift Nurses and Nurses’ Aides at the University Hospital of the West Indies

Abstract

Shift work is unavoidable in essential services such as health care. Even though working long hours into and through the night is often necessary, humans as diurnal creatures suffer adversely from it.The purpose of this study is to assess sleep related problems among nurses and nurses’ aides on the night shift at the University Hospital of the West Indies, located in Kingston, Jamaica. This information could hopefully assist hospital decision makers in better policy development. A cross-sectional study design was utilized focusing on the nursing staff on the night shift. Of a possible 176 participants 102 responded, for a response rate of 58%. The data was gathered using self-administered questionnaires and was analyzed using SPSS.The results of the study were mostly consistent with previous research on the topic. As predicted, a decrease in the number of hours of sleep was associated with increased difficulty staying awake on the job, irritability, tiredness and medical errors.

Keywords

Sleep deprivation Night shift Nurses Symptoms

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alspach

(2008). Napping on the Night Shift: Slacker or Savior? Critical Care Nurse, 28(6), 12-19. Retrieved January 2, 2011 from http://ccn.aacnjournals.org/content/28/6/12.full.

Andreasen

N. C.;

Black

D. W.

(2006). Introduction Textbook of Psychiatry, Washington DC: American Psychiatric Publishing Inc.

Bellebaum

(2008). The Relationship Between Nurses’ Work Hours, Fatigue and Occurrence or Medication Error. Retrieved October 12, 2011 from http://etd.ohiolink.edu/send-pdf.cgi/Bellebaum%20Katherine%20Louise.pdf?osu1222114579.

Buysse

Barzansky

Dinges

. (2003). Sleep, Fatigue, and Medical Training. Sleep, 26(2), 218-224. Retrieved October 12, 2011 from http://www.journalsleep.org/Articles/260215.pdf

CAREX. (n.d.). Shift Work. Retrieved July3, 2011 from http://www.carexcanada.ca/en/shiftwork.pdf.

Fallis

McMillan

Edwards

(2011). Napping During Night Shift. Critical Care Nurse, 31(2), 1-9. Retrieved October 12, 2011 from http://ccn.aacnjournals.org/content/31/2/e1.full.pdf+html.

Fessle

N. H.

(2005). Interns’ Work Hours. New England Journal of Medicine, 352(7), 727-728. Retrieved December 30, 2009 from http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJM200502173520718.

Humblet

Zarka-Martres

Trebilcock

Gernigon

Odero

Guido

Kern

Liang

(2002). International Labour Standard: A Global Approach, Geneva: International Labour Office.Human factors: Fatigue. (n.d.).

Retrieved December 30, 2009

http://www.hse.gov.uk/humanfactors/topics/fatigue.htm.

International Council of Nurses. (2007). Nurses and Shift Work. Position Statement. Retrieved December 30, 2009 from http://angnars.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/C07_Nurses_Shift_Work.pdf.

10.

Landrigan

Rothschild

Cronin

. Effect of reducing interns’ work hours on serious medical errors in intensive care units. N Engl J Med 2004;351:1838-48.

11.

National Sleep Foundation. (2011). How Much Sleep Do We Really Need. Retrieved June 19, 2011 from http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/how-sleep-works/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need.

12.

OHCOW. (n.d.) Shift Work: Health Effects and Solutions. Retrieved October 12, 2011 from http://www.ohcow.on.ca/resources/handbooks/shiftwork/shiftwork.pdf

13.

Knauth

P. Hornberger

(2003). Preventive and Compensatory Measures for Shift Workers. Occupational Medicine, 53, 109–116. Retrieved October 12, 2011 from http://occmed.oxfordjournals.org/content/53/2/109.full.pdf.

14.

Patman

(2011). Analysing Quantitative Data Correlation Using a Pearson r, Ch. 24. Other Social Research Methods, Retrieved October 12, 2011 from http://www.oup.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/198286/Chapter_24.pdf

15.

Scott

L. D.;

Rogers

A. E.;

Hwang

W.;

Zhang

(2006). Effects of Critical Care Nurses’ Work Hours on Vigilance and Patients’ Safety. The American Journal of Critical Care, 15(1), 30-37. Retrieved April 2, 2011 from http://ajcc.aacnjournals.org/content/15/1/30.full.pdf+html.

16.

Seki

(2008). Working Conditions Factors Associated With Time Pressure of Nurses in Japanese Hospitals. Journal of occupational Health, 50, 181-190. Retrieved October 12, 2011 from http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/joh/50/2/181/_pdf.

17.

Spurgeon

Anne

. (2003).Working time: Its impact on safety and health, Geneva: International Labour Office

18.

Stedman’s Medical Dictionary 28th Edition. (2006). Retrieved on December 22, 2010, from Sleep Deprivation, http://dictionary.webmd.com/terms/sleep-deprivation.

19.

Stokowski

L. A.

(2004). Wake-up Call for Nurses: Sleep Loss, Safety, and Health. 7th Annual Neonatal Advanced Practice Nursing. Retrieved May 20, 2011from http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/481189

20.

Stutts

J. C.;

Wilkins

J. W.;

Vaughn

B. V.

(1999). Why Do People Have Drowsy Driving Crashes? AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 7-10. Retrieved April 2, 2011 from http://www.aaafoundation.org/pdf/Sleep.pdf.

21.

The Sleep Foundation. (2005). Adult Sleep Habits and Styles. Retrieved January 2, 2011 from http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-america-polls/2005-adult-sleep-habits-and-styles.

22.

Tomlinson

C. A.

(2011). What causes irritability? Live Strong. Retrieved April 02, 2011from http://www.livestrong.com/article/184524-what-causes-irritability/.

23.

U.S. Department of Health Services, National Institute of Health. (2011). Your Guide to Healthy Sleep.

Retrieved October 12, 2011

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/sleep/healthy_sleep.pdf.

24.

Walter Kuhn

(2010). Shift Work: Circadian Rhythm and Satisfaction. Georgia Health Sciences University. Retrieved July 3, 2011 from http://www.georgiahealth.edu/som/clerkships/EM/PracticeIssues/Shift%20Work.pdf.

25.

Zhoa

Bogossian

Turner

(2010). Shift work and work related injuries among health care workers. The Australian Journal of Advance Nursing, 27(3), 62-73. Retrieved July 3, 2011 from http://www.ajan.com.au/Vol27/27-3_Zhao.pdf