In the hospital, there are always nurses that are working the night shift. What people do not know is the impact that working the night shift has on their life. There are a couple perks to working night shift as well. For example, nurses who work night shift tend to get better pay. Depending on the field that the nurse is working in, it is also not as stressful and beneficial for new nurses to get adapted to the job. However, there are also many dangers that go along with working on the night shift. Working the night shift can cause problems with the nurse’s physical health, mental health, and it can also have an impact on their home, family, and social life, along with other issues. One big concern with working night shift is the increased …show more content…
Women who work night shift have a higher risk of developing cancer, specifically breast cancer. According to the article “Night Shift Work Increases the Risks of Multiple Primary Cancers in Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 61 Articles,” for every 5 years of night shift work, the risk of breast cancer in women increases by 3.3% (Yuan, X., Zhu, C., Wang, M., Mo, F., Du, W., & Ma, X., 2018). Overall, the risk for breast cancer is roughly 32% greater for those who work night shift compared to those who work day shift (American Association for Cancer Research, 2018). Breast cancer is not the only cancer that is at an increased risk due to working night shift. Nurses who work night shift have a 58% higher risk of developing breast cancer, 35% chance of gastrointestinal cancer, and a 28% chance of lung cancer (American Association for Cancer Research, 2018). One reason that the percentages for the increased risk of cancer are higher in nurses is because nurses are more likely to be screened compared to those who are night shift workers for other professions (Park, A., 2018). Another issue is that all the studies performed to see if there is an increased risk of cancer in night shift workers did not account for other factors that could contribute to cancer like their diet, physical activity, and their sleep
... social life issues. Supporting to these Todd et al. (1993) demonstrated that nurses with 8 hour shifts had a high level of satisfaction than nurses worked for 12 hour shifts. However, contradictory results were found in Stone et al.(2006) study. They reported a significant level of nurse’s satisfaction was revealed with 12-hour shifts than those with 8-hour shifts. Furthermore, in 1996 Golec et al. carried out a study to compare the effect of 8 and 12 hour shifts among ICU nurses. The finding revealed that the nurses with 12-hour shifts demonstrate less social and family disruption than 8-hour shifts. Nevertheless, 12-hour shifts reported more health, and wellbeing complains s than 8-hour shifts. In addition, the study indicated that although 12-hour shifts provide more days off, it appears to be insufficient to dispel the adverse effects on health and wellbeing.
Harrington, J. M. (2001). Health Effects of Shift Work and Extended Hours of Work. OEM Education. Retrieved on December 3, 2013, from http://oem.bmj.com/content/58/1/68.full. doi: 10.1136.oem.58.1.68
...hological preparation. After a nurse is done working their regular shift being forced to work overtime can out them a greater right of medical mistake in part due to fatigue and tiredness consequently putting the patient at high risk of complications.
Sleeping while on duty hours can negatively affect that soldier, their battle buddies, and even their mission. It’s an act that can only do harm, whether that soldier be in an active warzone overseas, stationed at a base within the homeland, or even training. It takes discipline to stay awake when it is necessary to, and not being able to keep awake when necessary shows a lack of discipline and effort on that soldier’s part. As a result, that soldier ends up hurting themselves and everyone around them.
This article has shown me that new strategies are needed to reduce sleep disturbances, improve sleep quality, and support the need for supplemental daytime sleep in hospitalized individuals. These strategies include monitoring patients’ sleep and assess quality of sleep and duration, resolving the problems of sleep disturbance, recognizing that nighttime noise, light, and other factors potentially interfere with patient sleep, minimize lighting in shared patient rooms and turn off lights earlier at night, frequently assess for pain and administer prescribed pain medications to minimize sleep disruption. This article taught me more about sleep cycles and disturbances in hospitalized patients. As a future nurse, I have to accurately assess the patients’ personal characteristics and health education needs, and share this knowledge with my classmates.
Witkoski Stimpfel, Amy , Douglas M. Sloane, and Linda H. Aiken. "The Loger the shifts for hosital nurses, the higher the levels of burnout and patient disstisfaction." Health Affairs 31.11 (2012): 2501-2509. Proquest. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
Factors such as, heavy workloads, stress, job dissatisfaction, frequent medical errors, and intention of leaving the job are all common for nurses to experience, especially during the nursing shortage crisis. Not only do the nurses suffer during a shortage, but the patients ' health outcomes suffer even more. For instance, there are higher rates of infectious diseases and adverse patient outcomes, such as urinary tract infections (UTIs), upper gastrointestinal bleeding, shock, pneumonia, prolonged hospital stays, failure to rescue, and mortality. As a result, this leads to higher re-admission rates for patients. Furthermore, high patient-to-nurse ratios cause heavy workloads due to an inadequate supply of nurses, an increased demand for nurses, a reduction in staffing and an increase in overtime, and a shortened length of stay for patients. Without the heavy workloads that nurses have to endure on a daily basis, there would more time for nurses to communicate more effectively with physicians, insurance companies, and patients and their families. Those heavy workloads are the result of hospitals reducing the nursing staff and implementing mandatory overtime policies just to meet unexpectedly high demands. Unfortunately, the nursing shortage has affected nurses ' mental and physical health. For example, the most common health concerns for nurses include cardiovascular health, occupational injuries and illnesses, and emotional and physical exhaustion. Therefore, safe-staffing ratios/levels have to become the main
Notably, having higher proportions of nurses working shorter shifts—8–9 hours or 10–11 hours—resulted in decreases in patient dissatisfaction” (Stimpfel et al.). This is essentially saying that the longer the shift length, the more negative outcomes result. This study proves that eight to nine-hour shifts are more effective, and should, in turn, be worked more than longer shifts. This is a problem because hospitals are likely to continue to schedule nurses for twelve hours shifts out of
Working in a fast-paced environment and being on their feet can really take a toll on a person. In addition they have to be prepared for anything to happen during their shift. A study of overworked and stressed nurses found that nurses are overworked suffered from physical sickness like type two diabetes (Stress and overworked 2006). For most nurses, their work week consists of more than sixty hours. Working that many hours can double their chances of sicknesses. When they compare the working week hours of nurses who worked the normal 21 to 40 hours with those that work more than 40 or 60 hours a week, they found that in comparison the ones who worked 40 hours or more a week increased the risk by almost 50 percent for type 2 diabetes (Stress and overwork 2006). If nurses were to work their normal work hours without mandatory overtime, then their health would improve.
The nursing profession is constantly in a state of change becoming more complex over time. Registered nurses work to prevent disease, promote health and help patients cope. They develop and manage nursing care plans, instruct proper outpatient care, and help improve and maintain health within their community. They are educators of health governed by state laws. Registered nurses can work in many different settings which determine their daily job duties. Depending on their level of training a RN could work with geriatrics, in intensive care units, as an educator, as clinical study observers, a midwife, oncology, or palliative care. Hospital nurses make up the majority of the RN group. They work as staff nurses who carryout medical regimens and provide bedside care. Most registered nurses work in well-lighted comfortable facilities, work nights, weekends, and holidays, and spend a considerable amount of time on their feet. They have to be available at a moment’s notice. Nursing also has its hazards all employees of care facilities are at risk for infectious disease, radiation poisoning, back injuries, shocks from electrical equipment, and hazards posed by compressed gas. Nurses are the link between doctors and patients.
Heart disease: The Nurses’ Health Study proved that women who slept 9-11 hours per night were 38% more likely to have coronary heart disease as compares to women who slept 8 hours.
Long working hours continue to be one of the largest health concerns in the world. Currently, the world population has become so busy due to the pressure from harsh economic conditions. People are therefore spending long working hours in the workplace, which is an aspect that has negative impact on their health conditions. Statistics from Working Condition Survey indicates that approximately 30% of workers residing in European Union believe that their health is at risk due to the hours they spent in the workplace (Gurung, 2010:16)
It is very important to understand sleep to then understand the effects of shift work and to understand how to increase safety. There is very little knowledge about why we need a normal sleep cycle that include sleeping at night, but even less is known about the sleep cycles of those who try to sleep during the day and go to work during the long night. All the studies are not clear about what is the correct amount of sleep is actually required for a healthy lifestyle. As you look there the research there are result that show long natural sleepers and short sleepers have increase in mortality stats.
Lack of sleep affects us many different ways in our daily lives. Think of yourself as a battery, and you’re using all the energy. After you 're done using the energy, you have to charge it. Humans are just like batteries when it comes to sleep. We use all of our energy in the day time doing our daily activities. Like a battery, if you don’t rest or charge yourself up, you’re not going to function very well. It is necessary to have a satisfying amount of sleep. Lack of sleep will affect you in ways such as: mood swings, loss of focus, change in behavior, and difficulties in everyday tasks.
Sleep is a very important factor in the human function. Our body and brain is able to reset itself and rejuvenate while we sleep. When we do not get the required amount of sleep, we start to feel lethargic and foggy minded, because our mind and body wasn’t able to replenish itself. Sleep is imperative that an insignificant rest deficiency or lack of sleep can affect our ability to remember things; decisions and can affect our temperament. Chronic sleep deficiency can get the body to feel agitated and it could lead to serious health problems such as, heart problems, stress, acne, and obesity.