Shiftwork impacts and adaptation among health care workers

Abstract

This study confirmed previous research and identified factors that can be targeted for the development of more effective shiftwork adaptation programmes in a health care setting (sleep timing and duration, exercise and optimal health and organizational satisfaction).

Shift work, sleep, and sleepiness - differences between shift schedules and systems

“…Thus, it is likely that the extended sleep sometimes associated with permanent night work is not related to complete circadian adaptation; a later circadian phase in permanent night workers, or a minor circadian adjustment, might explain the small increase (30-60 minutes) during daytime sleep. This is in line with the studies showing an association between permanent night work and having a preference for evenings (ie, "eveningness") (73,74). Permanent night workers are in many cases a highly select group, which includes individuals who have chosen such a shift system because they prefer to work at night (65).…”

Personality factors related to shift work tolerance in two- and three-shift workers

“…In a recent review by our research group on individual differences in tolerance to shift work (Saksvik et al, in press) we report that morning types seem to have more adjustment difficulties related to shift work than evening types (Seo et al, 2000;Smith et al, 2005). Evening types (scoring low on Morningness) report better perception of adaptation to shift work (Takahashi et al, 2005a), better perception of their own shift work tolerance (Steele et al, 2000), in addition to better work performance (Burch et al, 2009) and higher job satisfaction with shift work (Korompeli et al, 2009).…”

Optimal nurse scheduling based on quantitative models of work-related fatigue

“…Distributions of chronotypes in worker populations vary and may be influenced by gender, age, lifestyle, work status, and shift schedule factors (Paine et al, 2006;Mecacci and Zani, 1983;Adan and Natale, 2002;Monk et al, 2004). Therefore, for the purposes of our model, in order to include both morning and evening types and demonstrate the impact of chronotype on fatigue based on shift schedules, we identify the top shift choice of a nurse from the preference survey conducted at the academic hospital and randomly assign a chronotype to that nurse using chronotype distributions (morning vs. evening) for her preferred shift choice reported in a previous study on healthcare workers (Burch et al, 2009).…”