The Challenges Of Shift Work

Sleep contributes to an individual's well being by our body producing extra protein molecules while we're sleeping that helps strengthen our ability to

The negative impacts of shift work on workers’ health such as fatigue and sleep which are the main complain among the staff, job performance, psychosocial well-being, and job dissatisfaction have been

Introduction: I’m sure everyone likes sleep. Everyone needs sleep to keep the least bit active through out there day. Sleep is an important factor for your body to restore energy. Sleeping is a time to rest your body from all the hard work you have done. It is relaxing so deeply that you lose consciousness of your surroundings.

Moreover, most shifts run into each other with day shifts extending into the night and night shifts extending into the day. This means that their circadian rhythms are distorted. Extended shift work for nurses eventually lead to them finding it difficult to adapt to normal life or any activities outside work.

It is problematic that healthcare professions work rotating shifts because this impedes on the ability of the human body to function properly. Rotating shifts means that everyday their shifts are at different times and different lengths of time. The human body needs to be in line with the environment and when the sun is up the body naturally is awake and alert and during night time the body goes dormant to sleep, this is called circadian rhythm. The body has a circadian clock and when this is disrupted this can lead to depression and anxiety. This can lead to exhaustion and irritation that can cause someone to make mistakes. This can also lead to sleep debt and cause insomnia that can affect the mental alertness. Sleep allows the body to fight

A nurse’s role is to advocate for the patient, provide care to them and their families, to do no harm, to promote healthcare and to alleviate suffering (AMA, 2015). With this being said, does working the night shift increase patient care errors? The human body is regulated by the circadian rhythms that tell the body when to sleep and wake, so does this altered sleep pattern have a correlation with patient care errors? When nurses work the night shift, this natural rhythm is disrupted and can impact well-being, judgement and decision making as well as the overall health of the nurse. In the articles presented, there are several thoughts on whether or not the shift change causes decrease judgement, response time and decision making. Are nurses truly impacted by night shift or are there other variable that impact the nurse and their physical and emotional health. Are there more patient care errors on the night shift than any other shift? There are several journal articles that research this very question using Evidence-based practice and PICO.

The function of sleep is to promote restoration. The human body accumulates damages due to impact strain and from reactive oxygen species that damage cells and buildup during times of activity (Sleep-wake cycle, 2006). During sleep, most of the body's systems are in an anabolic state, helping to restore the immune, nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems (Sleep-wake cycle, 2006). Most of the body has restorative processes that can supplement the restorative processes that happen during sleep for long periods of time, but the brain is more reliant on regular intervals of sleep for restoration as quiescent restoration is insufficient (Sleep-wake cycle, 2006). When the body does not get enough sleep, most body functions work at diminished capacity. (Brain Basics, 2017). Sleep deprivation is defined as obtaining inadequate sleep to support adequate daytime alertness (Kryger, Roth, & Dement, 2005). The pathological effects of sleep deprivation can lead to undesirable physiologic

The term 12 hour shift is used to refer to a two shift system associated with an extended working day, as supposed to an eight hour workshift. Twelve-hour shifts have become the normality and standard shift option for nursing over recent years across the United States (Harris, Sims, Parr, & Davies et al., 2014 p.606). Longer work hours are viewed as a positive impact on recruitment, potential financial savings, retention, and enhanced continuity of care (National Nursing Research Unit, 2013; NHS Evidence, 2010). However, it’s also evident that longer shifts result in nurse fatigue, errors, and reduced alertness. The concept of longer hour shifts have become quite the controversial topic among the healthcare system.

In some workplaces, this is considered gross misconduct and may be grounds for disciplinary action, including possible termination of employment. In other types of work, such as firefighting or live-in caregiving, sleeping at least part of the shift may be a part of the paid work time. While some employees who sleep while on duty in violation do so intentionally and hope not to get caught, others intend in good faith to stay awake, and accidentally doze. Sleeping while on duty is such an important issue that it is addressed in the employee handbook in most workplaces. Concerns that employers have may include the lack of productivity, the unprofessional appearance, and danger that may occur when the employee's duties involve watching to prevent a hazardous situation. In some occupations, such as pilots, truck and bus drivers, or those operating heavy machinery, falling asleep while on duty could put lives in danger. The frequency of sleeping while on duty that occurs varies depending on the time of day. Daytime employees are more likely to take short naps, while graveyard shift workers have a higher likelihood of sleeping for a large portion of their shift, sometimes intentionally. A survey by the National Sleep Foundation has found that 30% of participants have admitted to sleeping while on duty. More than 90% of

The relationship between shift hours and worker’s accomplishments is complex and influenced by several factors. In case with nurses, job characteristics such as patient acuity, time of the shift, shift length, rest break and pattern of days off are playing crucial factors on well-being and job performance. Moreover, working extra hours disable adequate social interactions and leisure pursuit for nurses. “Researchers theorizing that shift work exerts adverse effects by disturbing circadian rhythms, sleep, and family and social life” (Hughes, R., 2008). Lack of adequate rest and increased fatigue leading to physiological responses associated with stress, burnouts, and are creates difficulties in balancing the conflicting demands of work and family for nurses. “Furthermore, shift workers in continuously operating organizations such as hospitals are regularly require to work weekends and holidays, when much social and family interaction occurs” (Hughes, R., 2008). Consequently, forced

However, other studies have found that nurses’ healthiness is not undesirably affected by the 12 h shift (Dwyer et al., 2007; Jennings and Rademaker, 1987; Kaliterna and Prizmic, 1998), and some have established that it can essentially have affirmative well-being benefits, comprising a substantial reduction in individual symptomatology in the areas of overall health, cardiovascular associated illnesses, anxiety and frustration (Eaton and Gottselig, 1980), reduced emotional exhaustion (Stone et al., 2006; van Servellen and Leake, 1994) and consumption more healthily (Freer and Murphy-Black, 1995). One study found that nurses employed 12 h shifts involvement suggestively less compassion tiredness than those working for 8 h (Yoder, 2010). A smaller quantity of studies have reconnoitered the connection among work hours and the probability of incident or injury to nurses but these too have self-contradictory results. One study found that the danger of ‘drowsy driving’ doubled over and the risk of actuality involved in a motor vehicle crash or near motor vehicle crash nearly doubled when driving followed shifts exceeding 12 and a half hours in period (Scott et al., 2007). However, additional study found no changes stated in trouble driving home pre and post carrying out of 12 h shifts (Mills et al., 1983). Trinkoff et al. (2006a) found that employed 13 h or lengthier was considerably related with prevalence of neck, shoulder and back injury/complaint, even though Lipscomb et al.

They found that some nurses preferred to sleep during the day and do more activities during the day and had a difficult time functioning at night. These were the people that could not adapt easily during the shift work. Moreover, there were nurses who could function better during the night and be more alert and have their social activities during the night and slept during the day these nurses adapted very easily to shift work and preferred to work nights. The study found that nurses who who worked the shift work for more than fifteen years and could not adapt to shift work had a higher rate for divorce, increased rate for colorectal cancer, social isolation and substance

Shift work is known to create issues that affect a person’s health and marriage. Considered to be nonstandard working hours, shift work is performing work while working other than the traditional eight to five work days. Examples include, but are limited to night shift (3-11 or 11-7) and rotating shifts from days to nights; daily, weekly and monthly. Overtime hours can also be considered part of shift work, since they require

Sleeping is extremely important for all mammals, but humans especially. Without sleep we are unable to function properly and at our fullest abilities. When we sleep we grow, and it is an opportunity for us to dream which has many benefits. Sleep is also a way for us to relieve ourselves of stress.

It is my opinion that shift work is another potential hazard to me as an employee in the Healthcare Industry. It is my belief that employees on nightshift work or those working irregular hours may be more susceptible to errors and accidents, mainly due to fatigue or