The impact of swift work on Nurses’ personnel Health. Case study at a NHS Hospital of Athens
Abstract
Introduction: Employees involved in to work shiftwork are spread over many different sectors, especially in healthcare sector. There is evidence in the scientific literature of the adverse physiological and psychological effects of shift
work, including disruption to biological rhythm, sleep disorders, health problems, diminished performance at work,
job dissatisfaction, and social isolation.
Aim: To identify the effect of swift work on nurses’ health.
Methodology: The study was synchronic and was conducted in a public hospital. The sample of the study was nursing staff (permanent and auxiliary) of all educational levels. Data was collected using Standard Shiftwork Index questionnaire. The significance levels are two sided and statistical significance was set at 0.05. SPSS 22.0 statistical program
was used for analysis.
Results: The majority of participants were female (62.9%). The percentage of women who worked in shifts was higher
than that of women who worked only morning shifts, without significant statistical difference (64.3% vs. 57.1%). The
general health of the participants did not differ significantly according to their shift pattern (p=0.305), as well as in the
symptoms of physical stress (p=0.260). Daytime nurses’ leisure time satisfaction was statistically significantly higher
than “shift” nurses (p=0.003), who were significantly more inhibited from doing things in their free time (p<0.001). Disengagement strategies have been reported more often in shift nurses versus daytime nurses (p=0.007). The “morning
type” score was significantly higher in daytime nurses versus shift nurses, suggesting that they were more morning
types (p<0.001). Nurses involved in to work shiftwork were more adaptive compared to daytime nurses (p=0.005).
Conclusions: Shiftwork by itself was not found to be a risk factor for nurses’ general health, in this study, although
working round-the-clock affected negatively their physical and mental health.
