Pediatric Nurses’ Fatigue Descriptions in Occupational Injury Reports: A Descriptive Qualitative Study

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Work
• Personal Author:
  HITTLE, Beverly M. ; KELLER, Elizabeth G. ; LEE, Rebecca C. ; DARAISEH, Nancy M.
• Description:
  Background:
  
  Despite the high risks associated with occupational fatigue in healthcare, few organizations require nurses to screen and report fatigue symptoms. As a result, little is known about if and how nurses would report fatigue while on the job.
  
  Objective:
  
  To determine if hospital-based pediatric nurses reported fatigue as part of an active injury reporting method.
  
  Methods:
  
  This secondary analysis of qualitative data used a descriptive design with content analysis. Data from the parent study were collected at a U.S. pediatric hospital where nurses verbally reported on-shift injuries or near misses and pre- and post-shift health status via a digital voice recorder. Researchers used content analysis to independently code data for nurses’ references to fatigue. Codes were then analyzed for patterns and themes.
  
  Results:
  
  Approximately 30% (n=104) of participants reported fatigue-related content. Emergent themes were Work Stressors, Individual Risk Factors, Fatigue Descriptors, Adverse Outcomes from Fatigue, Fatigue Buffers, Descriptors for Buffered Fatigue, and Favorable Outcomes from Buffered Fatigue. Fatigue descriptions align with prior literature, demonstrating the accuracy of the voice recorder data collection method. In addition, nurses expressed uncertainty about the appropriateness of reporting fatigue symptoms.
  
  Conclusion:
  
  Findings from this study support pediatric nurses will report fatigue, when provided an opportunity. Additional efforts are needed to better understand effective ways to improve fatigue reporting among nurses, including harnessing current technology for real-time reporting and how to change the culture around fatigue reporting.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adult Fatigue Female Humans Male Middle Aged Occupational Injuries Pediatric Nursing Qualitative Research
• Keywords:
  Fatigue Occupational Health Occupational Injuries Organizational Culture Risk Assessment Safety Management
• Source:
  Work. 79(3):1307-1321
• Pubmed ID:
  38820042
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC11560710
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  K01 OH012549/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; R21 OH010035/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; T42 OH008432/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  79
• Issue:
  3
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:eaa5bc7d004b54a30f30f1fc0deabe15d728aa0cfa4ca12d5b377cc7cab35d3946b699f837f441e9c551439752300586b8c164f52aec3bbb6e45b629ec8dd22e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/169989/cdc_169989_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 451.57 KB ]