James Stephen Michael, James Lois
Elson S Floyd College of Medicine, Washington State University, Spokane, WA 99223, USA.
College of Nursing, Washington State University, Spokane, WA 99223, USA.
Nurs Rep. 2023 Mar 8;13(1):436-444. doi: 10.3390/nursrep13010040.
: The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of 12 h day vs. 12 h night shift-accumulated fatigue on nurses' driving safety. : Evidence across industries links work-related fatigue with errors, accidents, and adverse long-term health outcomes. Shifts of 12 h or longer are particularly problematic, and the potential risks to shift-worker driving safety during their post-shift commute home have yet to be fully explored. : This study used a between-groups, repeated-measures non-randomized control trial. Forty-four nurses working 12 h day shifts and 49 nurses working 12 h night shifts were tested in a driving simulator on two separate occasions-once immediately following their third consecutive 12 h hospital shift and once on their third consecutive day (72 h) off work. : We found that night shift nurses had significantly greater lane deviation during the post-shift drive home compared to day shift nurses, which is a key indicator of collision risk, demonstrating impaired driving safety. : Consecutive 12 h night shifts are an extremely popular shift for nurses working in the hospital setting, however they pose a significant driving safety risk to nurses assigned to night shifts. This study provides objective evidence of the impact of shift work-related fatigue on 12 h night shift nurse safety, allowing us to make recommendations that may help prevent injury or death from motor vehicle collisions.
本研究的目的是确定12小时日班与12小时夜班累积疲劳对护士驾驶安全的影响。跨行业的证据表明，与工作相关的疲劳与错误、事故以及长期不良健康后果有关。12小时或更长时间的轮班尤其成问题，轮班工人下班后驾车回家期间对其驾驶安全的潜在风险尚未得到充分探讨。本研究采用组间重复测量非随机对照试验。对44名值12小时日班的护士和49名值12小时夜班的护士在驾驶模拟器上进行了两次测试，一次是在他们连续第三次值12小时医院班之后立即进行，另一次是在他们连续第三天（72小时）下班时进行。我们发现，与日班护士相比，夜班护士下班后驾车回家时的车道偏离明显更大，这是碰撞风险的一个关键指标，表明驾驶安全受损。连续12小时夜班对在医院工作的护士来说是一种非常普遍的轮班方式，然而，它们给值夜班的护士带来了重大的驾驶安全风险。本研究提供了与轮班工作相关的疲劳对12小时夜班护士安全影响的客观证据，使我们能够提出可能有助于预防机动车碰撞造成伤害或死亡的建议。
