It appears doctors aren’t the only ones who are affected by lack of sleep.
According to the American Journal of Critical Care, nurses who didn’t get enough sleep or reported that they were tired during their shift were more likely to regret a decision they made on their shift than their well-rested counterparts.
For the study, Dr. Linda Scott, associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing, sent questionnaires to 3,500 nurses who reported working at least 36 hours a week. The questionnaires asked the nurses to detail their levels of fatigue, their quality and quantity of sleep, and how they viewed the decisions they made while on the job.
The Results
605 nurses returned the questionnaire, and the majority answered the questions about regret. 29 percent of respondents say the regretted some clinical decisions they made. Researchers found that the majority of these nurses worked at night or during 12-hour shifts.
“Registered nurses play a pivotal role as members of the health care team, but fatigued and sleep-deprived critical care nurses put their patients and themselves at serious risk,” the authors wrote.
Researchers also found:
- Decision regret was associated with less recovery between shifts.
- Being male, working longer shifts, and having less satisfaction in medical decision making was associated with a higher likelihood of decision regret.
The authors said it’s important for nurses and healthcare clinics to “acknowledge the impact” sleep deprivation has on employee performance and decision making. They add that hospitals should take steps to ensure employees have adequate time between shifts, but both groups need to take an active role in solving the problem.
“[P]roactive intervention is required to ensure that critical care nurses are fit for duty and can make decisions that are critical for patients’ safety,” researchers concluded.
Related source: Medscape