Paramedics and the effects of shift work on sleep: a literature review: Table 1

Sofianopoulos, Sarah; Williams, Brett; Archer, Francis Leo

doi:10.1136/emj.2010.094342

Cited by 56 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The prevalence of sleeping problems was found to be significantly associated with psychological demands on paramedics in Sweden 13. A review of the literature on paramedics, and the effects of shift work on sleep characteristics identified a high proportion of shift workers who reported fatigue, work stress, low job satisfaction and poor mental and physical health 26. This review concludes that there is a lack of literature describing the effects of shift work on sleep among paramedics.…”

Section: Consequences Of Stress For Paramedicsmentioning

confidence: 86%

Current state of knowledge of post-traumatic stress, sleeping problems, obesity and cardiovascular disease in paramedics

et al. 2013

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Section: Consequences Of Stress For Paramedicsmentioning

confidence: 86%

Current state of knowledge of post-traumatic stress, sleeping problems, obesity and cardiovascular disease in paramedics

et al. 2013

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“…In addition to PTEs, shift-work is a work context variable that has been identified as a potential influence on well-being and post-trauma outcomes. Many EMDs are required to do shift-work, which has been found to impact detrimentally on well-being among paramedics, and to reduce the quality and amount of sleep attained (Sofianopoulos et al 2012). Shift-work may also introduce problems in maintaining a balance between work and family commitments, which has been found to impact on well-being (Camerino et al 2010).…”

Section: Shift-workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, as a significant proportion of this population are likely to report the experience of trauma, it is also important to investigate both PTG and PTSD symptoms, to reflect the potential for both positive and negative outcomes of trauma. As literature suggests that shift-work can be detrimental to well-being (e.g., Sofianopoulos et al 2012), it is hypothesised that shift-work will negatively predict psychological well-being and PTG, and positively predict PTSD. Being a trained peer support officer may theoretically enhance well-being, due to receiving education around adaptive coping mechanisms and responses to stress and trauma (James and Wright 1991); thus it is hypothesised that being a trained peer support officer will positively predict psychological well-being and PTG, and negatively predict PTSD.…”

Section: The Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Support, Self-efficacy, Trauma and Well-Being in Emergency Medical Dispatchers

2014

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Emergency medical dispatchers (EMDs) respond to crisis calls for ambulance; they dispatch paramedics and provide emotional and medical assistance to callers. Despite the stressful nature and exposure to potentially traumatising events in this role, there has been no published research specifically investigating well-being or posttraumatic growth among EMDs. Extrapolating from research conducted among other emergency services workers (e.g., paramedics, police), literature attests to the importance of self efficacy and social support in promoting mental health in emergency service workers. Therefore, this study assessed the impact of self efficacy, and giving and receiving social support on psychological well-being, posttraumatic growth (PTG), and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Sixty EMDs (50 % response rate) completed an online questionnaire. Three hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to ascertain predictors of well-being, PTG and PTSD. Receiving social support emerged as a significant positive predictor of well-being and PTG, and a significant negative predictor of PTSD. Self efficacy was found to significantly and positively predict well-being, and shift-work was found to significantly and negatively predict PTSD. These results highlight that self efficacy and receiving social support are likely to be important for enhancing well-being within this population, and that receiving social support is also likely to facilitate positive post-trauma responses. Such findings have implications for the way emergency service personnel are educated with reference to aspects of mental health and how best to support personnel in order to achieve optimal mental health outcomes for all.

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“…2 There are few studies from this environment, but our results are consistent with research from pre-hospital transport settings showing clinician fatigue is common, and can often be severe. [25][26][27][28] It may depend on how services are organized and delivered, however; for example, in some emergency air medical settings clinicians have the opportunity for significant rest and sleep during duty periods, and fatigue may even decline over long-duration duty periods. 1 In contrast to emergency medical services (EMS) settings the clinicians in this study were often leaving routine clinical duties or being called in from home to undertake missions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fatigue in Air Medical Clinicians Undertaking High-acuity Patient Transports

Myers¹,

Haney²,

Griffiths³

et al. 2014

Prehospital Emergency Care

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Background. Fatigue is likely to be a significant issue for air medical transport clinicians due to the challenging nature of their work, but there is little published evidence for this. Objective. To prospectively assess the levels and patterns of fatigue in air medical transport teams and determine whether specific mission factors influenced clinician fatigue. Methods. Physicians and flight nurses from two intensive care interhospital transport teams routinely completed fatigue report forms before and after patient transport missions over a 4-month period. Data collected included subjective ratings of fatigue (Samn-Perelli and visual analog scale), mission difficulty and performance. Multivariate hierarchical logistic and linear models were used to evaluate the influence of various mission characteristics on post-mission fatigue. Results. Clinicians returned 403 fully complete fatigue report forms at an estimated overall return rate of 73%. Fatigue increased significantly over the course of missions, and on 1 of every 12 fatigue reports returned clinicians reported severe post-mission fatigue (that is, levels of 6 or 7 on the Samn-Perelli scale). Factors that impacted significantly on clinician fatigue were the pre-mission fatigue level of the clinician, night work, mission duration, and mission difficulty. Poorer self-rated performance was significantly associated with higher levels of fatigue (r = -0.4, 95% CI -0.5 to -0.3), and for the 6-month period leading up to the study clinicians reported a total of 22 occasions on which they should have declined a mission due to fatigue. Conclusions. These results suggest that clinicians undertaking interhospital transports of even moderate duration experience high levels of fatigue on a relatively frequent basis. In the unique and challenging environment of air medical transport, prior fatigue, long or difficult missions, and the disadvantageous effect of night work on normal circadian rhythms are a combination where there are minimal safety margins for clinicians' performance capacity. Fatigue prevention or fatigue resistance measures could positively affect air medical clinicians in this context.

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Paramedics and the effects of shift work on sleep: a literature review: Table 1

Abstract: Shift work can affect health and well-being on a variety of levels, both physiologically and psychologically, affecting aspects of work and personal life. Further research is warranted to prevent the issues of patient safety, work-related fatigue and the cumulative effects of shift work.

Cited by 56 publications

References 19 publications

Current state of knowledge of post-traumatic stress, sleeping problems, obesity and cardiovascular disease in paramedics

Current state of knowledge of post-traumatic stress, sleeping problems, obesity and cardiovascular disease in paramedics

Social Support, Self-efficacy, Trauma and Well-Being in Emergency Medical Dispatchers

Fatigue in Air Medical Clinicians Undertaking High-acuity Patient Transports

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