Perception of the Effects of Critical Nurses’ Long Working Hours on Vigilance and Patients` Safety in Ramallah district

April 12, 2020

0 6,539 3 minutes read

Unified Nursing Research, Midwifery & Women’s Health Journal
Volume 1, Issue 1, June 2020, Pages: 20-30
Received: Mar. 17, 2020; Accepted: Apr. 17, 2020; Published: Apr. 27, 2020

Authors: Amal Ibrahim, Faculty of Public health, Al-Quds University, Palestine

Abstract:

Introduction:
Working for long hours favors increasing daytime sleepiness and decreasing the state of nurse’s vigilance, offering a greater risk of injuries and work accidents that affect the quality of nurse’s performance and patient safety (Seitz, 2016). Nurses who work in this setting may experience decreased ability to provide optimum care to patients. Thus, for enhancing and improving nurses’ performance and patients` safety, there is a need to better understand fatigue and sleepiness and their association with each other as well as performance and patient safety (Weinstein, 2016).

Objective:
The study assesses the effects of long working hours of nurses in critical care units on vigilance and patients` safety in Ramallah city. The study was conducted at two major hospitals Palestine Medical Complex and Al-Istishari Arab Hospital in the first quarter of 2018.

Keywords: Critical Nurses, Nurses, Drug Importers, Working Hours, Patients` Safety.

Download Full Article & Abstract here:

Copyright

This abstract of Manuscript/Paper/Article is an open access Manuscript/Paper/Article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which allows and permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and accepted.

This communication and any documents, or files, attached to it, constitute an electronic communication within the scope of the Electronic Communication Privacy Act (https://it.ojp.gov/PrivacyLiberty/authorities/statutes/1285)

To citation of this article: Amal Ibrahim, Perception of the Effects of Critical Nurses’ Long Working Hours on Vigilance and Patients` Safety in Ramallah district, Unified Nursing Research, Midwifery & Women’s Health Journal

References: 1. AbuAmshah, M., (2014).Effects of Shift Work Paradigms on Job performance of Nurses in The Palestinian Health Sector.An-Najah National University, Palestine https://scholar.najah.edu/sites/default/files/Majd%20Abu %20Amshah_0.pdf

2. AbuRuz EM., Abu Hayeah MH, (January. 2017).Insomnia Induced by Night Shift Work is Associated with Anxiety, Depression, and Fatigue, among Critical Care Nurses. HIKARI Ltd. DOI: http://www.m-hikari.com/asb/asb2017/asb1-42017/p/aburuzASB1-4-2017-2.pdf

3. Akerstedt, T., (1988). Sleepiness as a consequence of shift work. Journal of Sleep research and sleep medicine. 11,(1) 17-34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/sleep/11.1.17.

4. Åkerstedt T, Axelsson J, Kecklund G, Lindqvist A, & Attefors R. (2003). Hormonal changes in satisfied and dissatisfied shift workers across a shift cycle. Journal of Applied Physiology, 95, 2099-2105. DOI: https://books.google.ps/books?isbn=184855544X

5. Al-Ameri MHI (2017) Night Shift and its Impact upon the Quality of Life of Nurses Working at the Teaching Hospitals of the Medical City Complex in Baghdad City, Iraq. J Nurse Care 6: 414. doi:10.4172/21671168.1000414

6. Alhola, P., & Polo-Kantola, P. (2007). Sleep deprivation: Impact on cognitive performance. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 3(5), 553–567.

7. AL-Ishaq M. (2008Nursing Perception of Patient Safety at Hamad Medical Corporation in the State of Qatar. Https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/bitstream/…/All%20Moz a%27s%20Dissertation.pdf

8. Allen,A., Park,J., Adhami,N., Adhami,S., Tholin,H., Dodek,P., Rogers,A., & Ayas,N.(2014). Impact of work
schedules on sleep duration of critical care nurses. Am J Crit Care. 2014 Jul;23(4):290-5. doi: 10.4037/ajcc2014876.

Method:
A cross-sectional design was used. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. A total of 233 critical care nurses were included in the study, the response rate was 78.5%.
The study assessed four domains: level of vigilance during the long working hours, Patient safety level during the long working hours, Patient Safety /Frequency of Events Reported, and Duties affected by vigilance and patients’ safety.

Results:
Study findings show that the nurses reported a relatively high prevalence degree of long working hours (42.61%).

Also, the study finds a real significant difference between working more ≥12daily, ≥40 h /weekly and vigilance and, no relationship between long working hours and patient safety were recorded ( p=.737).

On the other hand, age, gender, current position, and place of work show no significance in relation to vigilance and patient safety. Finally, a significant difference between the level of nurse’s vigilance was found between the two hospitals, and nurses at Palestine Medical Complex were eventually more alert.

Conclusion:
The study suggested that nurses get as much sleep as possible before starting long working hours improves their performance, prevent fatigue, and keeps them alert and vigilant. Limiting consecutive long working days to a maximum of 4 days and making sure there is adequate rest time between successive shifts.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply