IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jocnur/v27y2018i3-4pe703-e709.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of shift work on intensive care nurses’ lives outside work: A cross‐sectional study

Author

Listed:
  • Hanne Irene Jensen
  • Jette West Larsen
  • Tina Damgaard Thomsen

Abstract

Aims and objectives To examine how shift work affects intensive care nurses’ lives outside work. Background Shift work is unavoidable for many nurses. When attempting to minimise negative effects of shift work, it is important to identify areas which affect nurses working shifts. Design A cross‐sectional study. Methods A questionnaire survey among Danish intensive care nurses concerning experiences with shift work and family life, spare time activities, sleep and health. Results A total of 114 nurses (88%) participated. Shift work was found to influence the opportunities for spare time activities, and about 25% of both evening‐ and night‐shift groups found that working shifts sometimes led to social isolation. A total of 58% of nurses working evening shifts sometimes to very often experienced having trouble falling asleep when working shifts. Night‐shift workers had a higher percentage of physical and mental symptoms when working shifts compared with evening‐shift workers, with mood swings and headaches being the most common. The median score for thriving on working shifts was 8 (IQR 5–9) for evening‐shift workers and 8 (IQR 7–9) for night‐shift workers (scale 0–10 with 10 being the highest level of thriving). Conclusion Shift workers reported that working shifts had a negative impact on life outside work. Opportunities for participating in spare time activities and difficulties falling asleep after shifts were the main issues for evening‐shift workers, whereas physical symptoms such as headaches and mood swings were more dominant among night‐shift workers. Despite the negative effects, the participants generally thrived on working shifts. Relevance to clinical practice By identifying modifiable areas which negatively influence life outside work when working shifts, it will be possible subsequently to plan interventions aimed at decreasing the negative effects. Interventions may include nurses having increased influence on their work schedules and education in sleep hygiene and dietary habits.

Suggested Citation

  • Hanne Irene Jensen & Jette West Larsen & Tina Damgaard Thomsen, 2018. "The impact of shift work on intensive care nurses’ lives outside work: A cross‐sectional study," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(3-4), pages 703-709, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jocnur:v:27:y:2018:i:3-4:p:e703-e709
    DOI: 10.1111/jocn.14197
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.14197
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jocn.14197?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charles A. Czeisler, 2013. "Perspective: Casting light on sleep deficiency," Nature, Nature, vol. 497(7450), pages 13-13, May.
    2. Annabel Matheson & Louise O'Brien & Jo‐Anne Reid, 2014. "The impact of shiftwork on health: a literature review," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(23-24), pages 3309-3320, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Michael Savic & Rowan P. Ogeil & Megan J. Sechtig & Peta Lee-Tobin & Nyssa Ferguson & Dan I. Lubman, 2019. "How Do Nurses Cope with Shift Work? A Qualitative Analysis of Open-Ended Responses from a Survey of Nurses," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-17, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Federico Favero & Arne Lowden & Roberto Bresin & Jan Ejhed, 2023. "Study of the Effects of Daylighting and Artificial Lighting at 59° Latitude on Mental States, Behaviour and Perception," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-21, January.
    2. Anna Beniermann & Martin Glos & Heike Schumacher & Ingo Fietze & Stephan Völker & Annette Upmeier zu Belzen, 2023. "‘Sleep Blindness’ in Science Education: How Sleep Health Literacy Can Serve as a Link between Health Education and Education for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-22, August.
    3. Laura M. Argys & Susan L. Averett & Muzhe Yang, 2021. "Light pollution, sleep deprivation, and infant health at birth," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(3), pages 849-888, January.
    4. Annabel Matheson & Louise O’Brien & Jo‐Anne Reid, 2019. "Women's experience of shiftwork in nursing whilst caring for children: A juggling act," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(21-22), pages 3817-3826, November.
    5. Alessandra Battisti & Livia Calcagni & Alberto Calenzo & Aurora Angelozzi & Miriam Errigo & Maurizio Marceca & Silvia Iorio, 2021. "Urban Health: Assessment of Indoor Environment Spillovers on Health in a Distressed Urban Area of Rome," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-20, May.
    6. Veruscka Leso & Ilaria Vetrani & Alessandra Sicignano & Rosaria Romano & Ivo Iavicoli, 2020. "The Impact of Shift-Work and Night Shift-Work on Thyroid: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-17, February.
    7. Xiaoyue Gao & Lili Jiang & Yinqing Hu & Li Li & Lili Hou, 2020. "Nurses’ experiences regarding shift patterns in isolation wards during the COVID‐19 pandemic in China: A qualitative study," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(21-22), pages 4270-4280, November.
    8. Shu‐Hua Shen & Miaofen Yen & Shou‐Lin Yang & Chiung‐Ying Lee, 2016. "Insomnia, anxiety, and heart rate variability among nurses working different shift systems in Taiwan," Nursing & Health Sciences, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(2), pages 223-229, June.
    9. Eun‐Ho Ha, 2015. "Attitudes towards rotating shift work in clinical nurses: a Q‐methodology study," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(17-18), pages 2488-2497, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jocnur:v:27:y:2018:i:3-4:p:e703-e709. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-2702 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.