Addressing Occupational Fatigue in Nurses

Abstract

Significant opportunities exist to implement formal FRMS in healthcare. Nursing leaders, in partnership with other organizational leaders, should develop a formal plan to monitor fatigue and implement multiple levels of interventions to prevent fatigue and mitigate its consequences.

An Integrated Literature Review of Time-on-Task Effects With a Pragmatic Framework for Understanding and Improving Decision-Making in Multidisciplinary Oncology Team Meetings

“…We also acknowledge that occupational health evidence concerning effective approaches to reduce mental fatigue spans across cognitive-behavioral strategies proposed in this review. Fatigue-proofing strategies have been proposed that are adaptive to local work systems and operational circumstances and that foster resilience of a system to mitigate the likelihood of adverse consequences of fatigue-prone tasks (Reiner, 2013; Steege and Dykstra, 2016; Steege et al, 2017). Hereby, a combination of fatigue-reduction strategies that address contextual factors of the work environment (i.e., task characteristics, working time regimes) as well as individual behavior-based approaches (e.g., self-monitoring; Dawson et al, 2017) is suggested.…”

“…Hereby, a combination of fatigue-reduction strategies that address contextual factors of the work environment (i.e., task characteristics, working time regimes) as well as individual behavior-based approaches (e.g., self-monitoring; Dawson et al, 2017) is suggested. In practice, broader approaches embedded into the wider organizational system or formal safety management systems with systematic identification and evaluation of fatigue-proofing interventions need to be developed (Reiner, 2013; Steege and Dykstra, 2016; Steege et al, 2017; Caldwell et al, 2019). As an example, in the transport sector multi-dimension fatigue risk-management systems (FRMS) have been advocated on macro-levels (i.e., organizations, industry, regulatory bodies) to shift the focus of responsibility from individuals to cultural and regulatory levels (Techera et al, 2016; Dawson et al, 2017).…”

Understanding the impact of the physical health care environment on nurse fatigue

“…Recent studies on nurse fatigue have examined work system factors contributing to nurse fatigue using the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) model as a framework (Steege et al, 2015(Steege et al, , 2015Steege, Pinekenstein, Rainbow, & Knudsen, 2017).…”

“…While there is evidence that the PHE is a contributing factor to nurse fatigue, nominal evidence exists regarding how the PHE impacts nurse fatigue. Moreover, prior research suggests the PHE is an underutilized strategy for addressing nurse fatigue within the nurse work system (Steege et al, 2017). As the extant context in which care is delivered, it is essential to understand how the PHE can be leveraged along with individual, organisational and policy interventions to provide a comprehensive approach to addressing nurse fatigue.…”

“…Finally, design elements related to restorative factors, including access to break areas and their ability to provide respite due to the ambiance of the space and the inclusion of private spaces for nurses within the PHE, were identified in this study as having an impact on nurse fatigue. These design elements have been identified in other studies as critical design interventions for addressing nurse fatigue (Nejati et al, 2016;Steege et al, 2018Steege et al, , 2017. A study conducted by Nejati et al (2016) found breakrooms with access to private outdoor spaces such as porches or balconies were perceived by nurses as having a more restorative impact than breakrooms with window views, plants and artwork.…”