Disciplines

Critical Care Nursing | Nursing Administration | Other Nursing | Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing

Abstract (300 words maximum)

Abstract

Background: An international healthcare concern is extensive shift length among registered nurses and the negative factors associated with nurse burnout. Cognitive impairment, medical errors, sleep deprivation, job dissatisfaction, and overall declined health and safety of nurses have been associated to long shift work hours among registered nurses globally. However, there is limited published evidence about the difference between 8-hour and 12-hour shift work.

Objective: This systematic review summarized evidence on the impact that 12-hour shifts compared to 8-hour shifts has on the health and safety of registered nurses.

Methods: PubMed, SCOPUS, EBSCOHost, NCBI, Google Scholar, and APHA’s Medical Care databases were searched, covering the period from 2010-2021. Studies were included if their focus concentrated on nurses working 12-hour shifts in comparison to 8-hour shifts. All were of observational design.

Results: Upon analysis of 12 peer-reviewed studies, in which data was collected on roughly 36,709 nurses in 8 countries, the findings indicate that shift length is in fact a contributing factor in nurse health and safety internationally. Adverse outcomes that frequently occur with extensive shift length are exhaustion, fatigue, burnout, sleep deprivation/inefficiency, job dissatisfaction, cognitive impairment, and medical errors. These outcomes play a role in diminishing emotional, physical, and mental health and safety of registered nurses.

Conclusions: Longer shift lengths for registered nurses is associated with greater health and safety decline for nurses. Policy interventions are needed to resolve the shift hours required of registered nurses.

Academic department under which the project should be listed

WCHHS - Nursing

Primary Investigator (PI) Name

Modupe Adewuyi

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The Impact of a 12-Hour Shift Compared to an 8-Hour Shift on Nurse Health and Safety

Abstract

Background: An international healthcare concern is extensive shift length among registered nurses and the negative factors associated with nurse burnout. Cognitive impairment, medical errors, sleep deprivation, job dissatisfaction, and overall declined health and safety of nurses have been associated to long shift work hours among registered nurses globally. However, there is limited published evidence about the difference between 8-hour and 12-hour shift work.

Objective: This systematic review summarized evidence on the impact that 12-hour shifts compared to 8-hour shifts has on the health and safety of registered nurses.

Methods: PubMed, SCOPUS, EBSCOHost, NCBI, Google Scholar, and APHA’s Medical Care databases were searched, covering the period from 2010-2021. Studies were included if their focus concentrated on nurses working 12-hour shifts in comparison to 8-hour shifts. All were of observational design.

Results: Upon analysis of 12 peer-reviewed studies, in which data was collected on roughly 36,709 nurses in 8 countries, the findings indicate that shift length is in fact a contributing factor in nurse health and safety internationally. Adverse outcomes that frequently occur with extensive shift length are exhaustion, fatigue, burnout, sleep deprivation/inefficiency, job dissatisfaction, cognitive impairment, and medical errors. These outcomes play a role in diminishing emotional, physical, and mental health and safety of registered nurses.

Conclusions: Longer shift lengths for registered nurses is associated with greater health and safety decline for nurses. Policy interventions are needed to resolve the shift hours required of registered nurses.

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