Researchers have discovered that
patients in hospitals where nurses work long hours are much more
likely to die of pneumonia and heart attack.
The authors of the new study explained
that in most U.S. Hospitals, nurses work 12-hour shifts completely.
It is a trend that began during the 1980s as a result of a nationwide
nursing shortages.
Study author Alison Trinkoff, a professor at the University of
Maryland School of Nursing, stated in a university news release:
"Although many nurses like these schedules because of the
compressed nature of the work week, the long schedule, as well as
shift work in general, leads to sleep deprivation."
Trinkoff explained that alertness and vigilance needed for giving
good nursing care rely upon having enough time of quality sleep and
rest, and long work hours can affect the quality of nursing care and
can escalate the probability of mistakes.
Furthermore, said Trinkoff, nursing work hours may also be
doubling to satisfy the decreasing physician work hours in hospitals
since the medical profession has made moves to restrict the hours a
physician-in-training may work, while nursing has not taken similar
actions.
The researchers kept an eagle eye at patient outcomes and staffing
information at 71 acute care hospitals in Illinois and North
Carolina, for their research, in conjunction with survey replies from
633 nurses who worked at the hospitals.
Together with long work hours, the work schedule aspect most often
connected with patient deaths was lack of time off the job. Past
study by the same team figured that lack of time off was an important
determinant in nurse fatigue and injuries.
Trinkoff said, the finding, published in the January/February
issue of the journal Nursing Research, should result to
additional study of nurses' work schedules.
The findings, published in the January/February issue of the
journal Nursing Research, should lead to further study of
nurses' work schedules, Trinkoff said.