Running on empty: fatigue and healthcare professionals

Details

• Personal Author:
  Caruso, Claire C.
• Description:
  A growing number of healthcare workers suffer from sleep deprivation and fatigue. From 1985 to 2007, the percentage of healthcare workers reporting 6 or fewer hours of sleep per day (a level considered by sleep experts to be too short) rose from 28% to 32%.[1] This trend toward shorter sleep has several likely explanations. Healthcare workers typically work off-shifts and long hours to provide vital services to society around the clock. These demanding schedules can lead to difficulties with sleep because of the need to sleep at irregular times and at times that are out of phase with normal circadian rhythms. This misalignment of sleep with circadian rhythms leads to trouble with falling asleep, more arousals during sleep, and early awakenings leading to poorer sleep quality and shorter sleep duration. Furthermore, sleep duration may be shortened by insufficient time between work shifts and the competing demands of work and personal life. Economic pressures could force healthcare workers to seek second jobs, extra shifts, or longer hours, leaving even less time for them to sleep. Healthcare workers often lack knowledge about the importance of sleep because the topic is rarely covered in their education programs.[2] Without this knowledge, healthcare workers may mistakenly curtail their sleep to fit other activities into their schedules. Short sleep duration is reported by 52% of night shift healthcare and social assistance workers.[3] According to a 2011 American Nurses Association Health & Safety Survey, the top concerns of 74% of registered nurses were stress and overwork.[4] An alarming 10% of respondents had experienced a vehicle crash that was believed to be a consequence of shift work and fatigue.[4] [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Fatigue Health Personnel Occupational Health Safety Shift Work Schedule Sleep Sleep Initiation And Maintenance Disorders
• Keywords:
  Biological-effects Health-care Health-care-personnel Medical-personnel Nurses Nursing Physicians Shift-work Shift-workers Sleep-deprivation Work-intervals Worker-health

  More +
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20041998
• Citation:
  Medscape 2012 Aug; :768414
• Contact Point Address:
  Claire C. Caruso, PhD, RN, Research Health Scientist, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cincinnati, OH 45226
• Email:
  ccaruso@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• NORA Priority Area:
  Healthcare and Social Assistance ; Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Medscape
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e6d528ae37fc06607010722d75de05aba725787827a9ba201152a59e3bc351a112be484ae767cd746179454f52a22898f87f3a22869f9e90fc542a9f4837f450
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194379/cdc_194379_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 50.31 KB ]