Night Shift Work and Its Health Effects on Nurses : The Health Care Manager (original) (raw)

Article

Books, Candie RN, BSN; Coody, Leon C. MSN, FNP; Kauffman, Ryan MSNA, CRNA; Abraham, Sam DHA, MS, RN

Author Affiliations: Intermediate Care Center (Ms Books) and Palliative Care (Mr Coody), Elkhart General Hospital, IN; Department of Anesthesia, Wentworth Douglas Hospital (Mr Kauffman), Dover, NH; and School of Nursing, Bethel College (Dr Abraham), Mishakawa, IN.

The authors have no funding or conflicts of interest to disclose.

Correspondence: Sam Abraham, DHA, MS, RN, School of Nursing, Bethel College, 1001 Bethel Cir, Mishawaka, IN 46545 ([email protected]).

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to study night shift work and its health effects on nurses. This was a quantitative study using descriptive design; it also incorporated three qualitative open-ended questions to complement the study. The data were collected using Survey Monkey, with an Internet-based confidential data collection tool. The population of relevance to this study was nurses employed in hospital settings in the United States. E-mail addresses and Facebook were used to recruit participants. Results indicated that there is an increased risk of sleep deprivation, family stressors, and mood changes because of working the night shift. Rotating shifts were mentioned as a major concern for night shift nurses. Respondents agreed that complaints about fatigue and fatigue-related illnesses in night shift workers were ignored. There was also a general perception among nurses working the night shift that sleep deprivation leads to negative health consequences including obesity; however, they were not as high a concern as rotating shifts or fatigue.