Pilot Study to Evaluate Sleep Habits in Medical/Surgical Nurses
The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the sleep habits of a small sample of nurses on a medical/surgical unit at an academic medical center.
Background:
Circadian misalignment influences cognitive ability in the short term and has implications on cardiovascular, endocrine and immune system health in the long term. Fatigue and sleep loss have been shown to increase decision regret among nurses. This study was designed to evaluate whether nurses working 12 hour shifts regularly experience circadian misalignment.
Methods:
Nurses on a medical/surgical floor were asked to keep a sleep/exercise/stress diary and wear a Fitbit for one week. Nurses in this study worked 12 hour shifts, and nurses working all shifts were eligible for the study. Total sleep time (TST), stress upon awakening, and amount of exercise were compared across workday versus non-workday. Self-reported total sleep time and amount of exercise were corroborated by Fitbit data.
Results:
A total of 13 nurses participated in the study. The nurses were all female, ranged from 1-7 years of experience, and all worked on the same medical/surgical floor. A shorter mean total sleep time prior to a shift and an earlier awakening on workdays indicated that the nurses were suffering from circadian misalignment due to social jet lag related to shift work.
Implications:
Existing studies of shift workers from various industries indicate that errors and near-miss events are more likely to be made if a worker is fatigued due to decreased sleep prior to the shift. Nurses comprise almost a quarter of all health care workers in the United States, but medical/surgical nurses remain an understudied population. The consequences of circadian misalignment in nurses, both in terms of nursing errors and long term health implications, needs to be further studied.