TITLE:
Hospital Night Shift and Its Effects on the Quality of Sleep, the Quality of Life, and Vigilance Troubles among Nurses
AUTHORS:
Wided Boughattas, Olfa El Maalel, Ridha Ben Chikh, Maher Maoua, Kalboussi Houda, Aicha Braham, Houssem Rhif, Souheil Chatti, Faten Debbabi, Mohamed Dogui, Nejib Mrizak
KEYWORDS:
Night Shift, Nurse, Quality of Life, Sleep, Vigilance
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Clinical Medicine,
Vol.5 No.10,
May
23,
2014
ABSTRACT: Introduction: The
exposure to shift works, and especially to night shift, goes against the
circadian rythmicity of the social man, which brings about a multitude of
disruptive effects on health. In a hospital environment, such night shift is
necessary so as to ensure the continuity of care. Sleep and vigilance disorders
related to this work mode are frequent and often pose adaptation problems. The
objective of this study is to detect the harmful effects of night shift on
sleep, vigilance and the quality of life of nurses in Farhat Hached Teaching
Hospital in Sousse. Material and Methods: It is a cross-sectional study carried
out among two groups of nurses: one group performing a fixed night work and the
other one working permanently during the day at Farhat Hached Teaching Hospital
in Sousse. Data collection is mainly based on validated questionnaires
evaluating sleep quality (Pittsburg sleep quality index), daytime sleepiness
(Epworth sleepiness scale), sleep typology (Horne and Ostberg questionnaire),
and the quality of life (SF-12). An objective evaluation of vigilance was
realized by the study of reaction time and error rates to different tasks of
“Super lab” software. Results: 50 night and 50 day nurses have been colligated.
Both groups were age- and gender-matched. Sleep quality mean index was
significantly higher among night nurses in comparison with day nurses (10.2 ± 5.9
versus 6.76 ± 5.16). After multivariate analysis, sleep quality was
significantly correlated to age, department, schedule and the choice of
schedule. Night shift was not related to daytime sleepiness. The objective
analysis of vigilance showed that the reaction time to different tasks
exploring the attentional mechanisms, as well as errors rate, were significantly
more important among the night group. The mental score of the quality of life
was significantly higher among day nurses. However, such difference was not
significant with regard to physical score. Conclusion: The findings of our
study highlight not only the alteration of the health and the well being of
paramedical staff secondary to night shift, but also a possible threat to
safety care lavished by these teams, which involves the necessity to undertake
preventive measures on an individual and collective scale.