Twelve-hour night-shift nursing work was linked with and worse psychological, physical, social, and performance outcomes.
Evidence
This scoping review searched PubMed, EBSCO, CINAHL, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar and included 17 full-text articles on nurses working 12-hour night shifts.
Caveat
The review summarizes associations from included literature rather than testing a new intervention or proving that night shifts caused the reported outcomes.
Simplified
The ever-demanding job of nurses necessitates night shift work for 12 hours at various healthcare facilities to improve continuity of care. Working at night is associated with physical and mental stress as it disturbs circadian rhythm, affects sleep, influences dietary and eating routine, and impairs cognitive function. Nursing is a high-demand profession that requires working for longer hours, due to which, nurses are at increased risk of . This occupational fatigue involves various components of one's life including poor physical performance, poor mental health, impaired cognition, and sensory overload on account of high work demand but low energy restoration. The current scope review aimed to assess the effect of night shift and occupational fatigue on nurses who work 12 hours. A systemic search of PubMed, EBSCO, CINAHL, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar was conducted. A total of 245 full-text articles underwent eligibility evaluation. In the end, 17 full-text articles were included in this scoping review. This scoping review found that there is a significance positive association of occupational fatigue with 12 hours nightshift work and that chronic fatigue leads to negative emotions, lack of concentration, and decreased motivation and subsequent reduced physical performance. In addition, nurses' 12 hours nightshift work results in psychological, physical issues including anxiety, depression, burnout, exhaustion, and professional performance as well as affects nurses' social and quality of life. Therefore, policymakers need to work on circadian rhythm-based interventions considering the work duration, speed of shift change, number of consecutive shifts, and social support.
Key numbers
62.08%
Increased prevalence of anxiety
Percentage of night shift nurses reporting anxiety symptoms.
58.82%
Increased prevalence of depression
Percentage of night shift nurses reporting depression symptoms.
44%
Near-miss car accidents reported
Percentage of night shift nurses experiencing near-miss accidents due to sleepiness.
Full Text
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