Night Shift Nurses and Anxiety
Ashley Olson
Dixie State University
Night Shift Nurses and Anxiety
Introduction
As a CNA working occasional night shifts, I noticed the difference in behaviors between those nurses who worked strictly nights versus those who were strictly days. I then questioned if there would be a correlation between those nurses who worked night shift and anxiety. Most nurses who work night shift experience a different type of environment than those in day shfit as day shift is more on their feet as the patients are awake. While exploring the different correlations, I remained curious as to if there was a correlation between the nurses behaviors and working night. I feel like if I knew the correlation
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More specifically, it focused on those new to working night shifts and those who have worked that shift for several years. (Saksvik-Lehouillier, 2012, p.1136) The study went into detail about how each group could tolerate the shift work. Especially since working shifts can be related to many different negative health consequences. Some negative consequences could be anxiety, depression, insomnia and fatigue. In conclusion it explains how there is no difference between the groups toleration but rather that there are ways to improve the tolerance. Especially since there is some correlation between the negative effects and working a night shift. Some of the ways include, applying personality tests, couselling about the occupation and educating. (Saksvik-Lehouillier, 2012, p.1144)
Recommendations
In my first article, I would recommend a further investigation and comparison between day shift and night shift. I personally would recommend that while there was no direct correlation, the results could vary on the nurses history and how the nurse copes with various things. My second article focused more on how to better tolerate working at night. The study explains that working this type of shift can have negative health
With regard to sleepiness, several studies indicated that the average of sleep duration in 1910 to 2002 have decreased from 9 to 6 hours on workdays (National sleep foundation, 2002; Groger et al., 2004). Recently, a survey study of Roger et al. (2004) shows that an American Nurses have an average of 84 minutes more sleep on non workdays. Thus, shift work suggested as a cause of sleeping disorder among nurses where they feel of sleep during the shift. Considering the contributing factors of sleepiness, the literature identified that long working hours and rotating shifts are causing sleeping disorder. In the night and rotating shifts, the nurses are rarely obtained adequate amount of sleep. In fact, the nurses experiencing less sleeping hours (1 to 4 hour) than normal sleeping (Zeisler et al.,1980). Nevertheless, insufficient sleep is a significant reason of damaging planning, decision-making, and integration of information (Krueger, 1994; Harrison and Horne, 2000). More recent studies have revealed that long hour shifts and overtime are strongly linked to the difficulties of being a wake through the shift which leads to increase the risk of making an error (Scott et al., 2006; Roger et al., 2004).
As a new nurse I started working the night shift which did not go over well with my body. I couldn’t sleep or adjust to the night shift schedule. It didn’t help that I lived one house up from my grandmother who was just on hospice and calling
Moreover, most shifts run into each other with day shifts extending into the night and night shifts extending into the day. This means that their circadian rhythms are distorted. Extended shift work for nurses eventually lead to them finding it difficult to adapt to normal life or any activities outside work.
It is problematic that healthcare professions work rotating shifts because this impedes on the ability of the human body to function properly. Rotating shifts means that everyday their shifts are at different times and different lengths of time. The human body needs to be in line with the environment and when the sun is up the body naturally is awake and alert and during night time the body goes dormant to sleep, this is called circadian rhythm. The body has a circadian clock and when this is disrupted this can lead to depression and anxiety. This can lead to exhaustion and irritation that can cause someone to make mistakes. This can also lead to sleep debt and cause insomnia that can affect the mental alertness. Sleep allows the body to fight
Why am I writing this paper? The Reason why I am writing this is to find out more information about the Holocaust then I know now. Also, I have wanted to see the aftermath. Yes, they some of them survived but I wanted to know did they really survive the hauntings? Also what were some of the disease a a After thinking about that, that intrigued me to do some more research about that question.
Throughout the years there has been more attention directed towards healthcare worker fatigue. More specifically, fatigue associated among night-shift nurses. The Joint Commission has found that lack of sleep from night shifts has contributed to increased errors, leading to poor patient outcomes (Gardner, Dubeck, 2016).
First off I wanted to say I enjoyed reading your post and, in my opinion all of your ideas listed in this weeks post regarding, the growing number of homeless people in the downtown business district, were excellent. Almost all of us this week agree that a survey needs to be established to help identify why this is a growing problem. That being said, I particularly liked your idea of having a night shift survey at different times of the night to see how many homeless are sleeping within what areas, and also having a day shift to survey the areas to see how many are panhandling. This idea is not only useful for gathering information, but also to help with public safety.
New nurses often get the night shifts and it can be a very different change for them. If nurses were informed about these statistics, it could potentially reduce the risk of errors made because they know they need to get adequate hours of
Weight gain, fatigue, increase in needle sticks, a disruptive circadian cycle, obesity and increase in medication usage have been linked to nurses working shift work hours. Research has shown that quality of patient care, medication errors, poor patient satisfaction, accidents and deaths have been linked with nurses during shift work hours (Han, Trinkoff, & Geiger-Brown (2014).
Since the early days of nursing when nurses would work extended shifts and even lived on the wards where they worked, nurse fatigue has been a much discussed issue. During the late 1800s and into the early 1900s, workers spanning several industries fought for the eight hour work day and eventually won with the passage of the US Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938 (Miller, 2011). In the years since then, the extended shift has again become popular, particularly in the field of nursing. Though many nurses and organizations laud twelve hour shifts as beneficial to staffing needs and personal lives, the risks to patient and nurse safety must be considered.
The title of this study “Sleep Quality in Nurses: A Randomized Clinical Trial of Day and Night Shift Workers” appropriately portrays the information of the article. It describes the design of the study, a randomized trial, as well as the topic, sleep quality of nurses. Overall it gives a good picture of what the article includes.
Shift Work Sleep Disorder-Some people due to the job's time have to night shift. This situation will affect their sleep quality and the work schedules conflicts with the body's natural circadian rhythm and some individuals have difficulty adjusting to the change.
The effects of long work hours, resulting in insufficient sleep have been well documented (Rogers, 2008). Insufficient sleep alone has been noted to cause cognitive problems, mood alterations, reduced job performance, reduced motivation, increased safety risks, and physiological changes (Rogers, 2008). Failure to obtain a sufficient amount of sleep is even an important contributor to medical errors (Rogers, 2008). Now think of the effects of sleep, and add in stressful work environments, short-staffing, pressure from administration, and unexpected events, we can begin to realize how patient outcomes may be greatly compromised.
It is my opinion that shift work is another potential hazard to me as an employee in the Healthcare Industry. It is my belief that employees on nightshift work or those working irregular hours may be more susceptible to errors and accidents, mainly due to fatigue or
Working the night shift is a common practice in industrialized societies. Nevertheless, its adverse effects should not be excused as this plays a vital part in control of cancer and heart disease. Prevailing in healthcare, transport and production industries, its irreversible effects on bodily functions play a vital role in reducing accidents, sleep regulation, performance, and quality of rest.