Shift work Effects on nurses’ health

The human organism is characterized by its “biological clock” or else its biological rhythm which determines its function. In health care the demands for a 24-hour nursing care requires the nursing personnel to work on a rotating shift system. People working on a night shift system are forced to suspend their biological 24-hour rhythm set by the brain. The result of this disorganization is the so-called “jet-lag” syndrome or in our case the “shift-lag” syndrome. Aim: The aim of the present research study was to study the effects of the rotating shift system on the nursing personnel’s health. MATERIAL-Method: The compilation of data was performed with the aid of the Survey of Shiftworkers (SOS) questionaire, adapted to the needs of this study. It was distributed to 154 nurses of a General Peripheral Hospital of Attica who work on a rotating system. Results: The response rate was that of 53.8%. People with more years of experience consider the night shift workload more “heavy” (P=0.001). The number of night shifts affects the domestic (P=0.002) and social life (P=0.004) of nurses, while physical ailments such as back and neck aches are often present (P=0.047). The amount of sleep between two night shifts is not enough for the personnel to rest, whereas several shiftworkers suffer from sleeplessness on their days off duty (P=0.006) as well as between two afternoon shifts (P=0.027). The amount of sleep in all shifts is interwoven with its quality (P<0.05), with the exception of the afternoon-tomorning shift. Finally, the number of successive night shifts and the total number of night shifts during the 12- week period were not statistically correlated neither to the amount of sleep between night shifts and days off nor to the nurses’ health. Conclusions: The main conclusion refers the significance of the effects on nursing staff who work on a rotating system and night shifts. Those effects do not occur explicitely but indirectly, through changes on the amount and quality of sleep. Therefore, better planning of shifts is essential.