On-shift and daily variations in self-report and performance measures in rotating-shift and permanent night nurses |
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Authors: | Peter Totterdell Evelien Spelten Jane Barton Lawrence Smith Simon Folkard |
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Affiliation: | 1. MRC/ESRC Social and Applied Psychology Unit, University of Sheffield , Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK;2. MRC Body Rhythms and Shiftwork Centre, Department of Psychology , University of Wales Swansea , Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK |
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Abstract: | Abstract An intensive study was conducted of the influence of type of shift system, type of shift, and time-into-shift on a battery of on-shift and daily measures obtained from 61 female nurses over a 28-day period. Thirty-two rotating-shift nurses and 28 permanent night nurses recorded data on a hand-held computer at the start and end of each day, and every 2-h during their shifts. The measures included a sleep diary, self-ratings of mood, workload, and personal disruption, and two cognitive performance tasks. These results suggest that the permanent night nurses were no worse off and for some measures were actually better off than the rotating-shift nurses after controlling for differences in age and shiftwork experience; the night-shift was problematic for the rotating-shift nurses but so was the early shift; mood deteriorated and reaction time got slower over the course of the night-shift but extra long responses (which may correspond to lapses of attention) and rated workload were lower on the night-shift. The relatively large number of consecutive night-shifts worked by the rotating-shift nurses, the uneven distribution of workload between shifts, and the long night-shift may have contributed to these results. |
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Keywords: | Shiftwork Nursing Sleep Performance Mood |
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