Effect of Daylight Saving Time on the Performance of Noninvasive Vascular Technologists in a Noninvasive Peripheral Vascular Laboratory of a Community Medical Center

Abstract

Introduction:

Daylight saving time (DST), mostly during the spring or “spring forward time,” has been associated with negative effects on health and safety during that first week of the time change. We wanted to evaluate any impact of time change in the performance of vascular technologists mostly for any errors in our noninvasive peripheral vascular laboratory during the first week of the spring DST time change.

Method:

We conducted an observational retrospective study reviewing the technical aspects of the peripheral vascular studies done within 1 week after the spring DST compared with studies done 1 week prior to DST over a 5-year period (2019-2023).

Results:

In the pre-DST group, 6 minor and 5 moderate errors by vascular technologists were identified. In the DST and the post-DST group, there were 15 minor and 17 moderate errors noted. There were no major or never ever events (E3) noted in these studies.

Discussion:

The study showed that there is some increased relative risk of errors amongst technologists in the first week of the spring forward time change of 1.37%, 95% CI: (0.84, 2.24), compared with the pre-DST week. However, it was not statistically significant (cumulative error P = .21). The errors were mostly clerical (mild) with a relative risk of 1.21, 95% CI: (0.6, 2.45), P = .59 and some protocol errors (moderate) with a relative risk of 1.61, 95% CI: (0.72, 3.56), P = .24. However, more importantly, there were no major or severe errors identified that led to any adverse patient outcomes.

Conclusion:

Spring DST did not have a significant negative impact on the performance of the vascular technologists in our peripheral vascular laboratory (PVL). The errors were mostly mild to moderate, with no severe mistakes or adverse patient outcomes.