Short time between shifts and risk of injury among Danish hospital workers: a register-based cohort study

Sep 29, 2018Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health

Short time between work shifts linked to higher injury risk among Danish hospital workers

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Abstract

An elevated risk of injury was observed with quick returns of ≤11 hours between shifts, showing an incidence rate ratio (IRR) of 1.39 compared to standard shifts.

Shorter time between work shifts is linked to increased risk of injury among hospital workers.
Injury risk is notably higher during the first two days following a quick return.
The IRR for injury on day 1 after a quick return is 1.39, indicating a significant association.
On day 2 post quick return, the IRR remains at 1.39, suggesting sustained risk.
These findings emphasize the potential need to limit quick returns to enhance worker safety.

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Objectives Short time between consecutive work shifts (quick returns, ie, ≤11 hours between shifts) is associated with sleepiness and fatigue, both of which have been linked to risk of injury. This paper aims to study quick returns between work shifts and risk of injury among Danish hospital workers. Method The study population included 69 200 employees, primarily working at hospitals, corresponding to 167 726 person years at risk between 2008-2015. Information on working hours was obtained from payroll data in the Danish Working Hour Database and linked, at an individual level, with data on 11 834 injury records identified in the National Patient Register and the Danish Register of Causes of Death. Multivariate Poisson regression models were used to calculate incidence rate ratios (IRR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results Results showed the shorter the time between shifts, the higher the risk of injury. Thus, an elevated risk of injury was observed after quick returns compared with the standard 15-17 hours between shifts (IRR 1.39, 95% CI 1.23-1.58). Furthermore, when assessing the number of days since a quick return, the risk of injury was especially high within the first two days (day 1: IRR 1.39, 95% CI 1.23-1.58; day 2: IRR 1.39, 95% CI 1.21-1.58) following a quick return. Conclusions Our results suggest that quick returns increased the risk of injury, in particular within the first two days following a quick return. These findings point towards avoiding or reducing the number of quick returns in order to lower employees' risk of injury.

Short time between shifts and risk of injury among Danish hospital workers: a register-based cohort study

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