Nurses are known for working long shifts, and during the holidays this can increase. Since many full-time nurses take holiday benefit time around the end of the year, facilities rely on per diem staff and any remaining nurses to fill the void, which can mean overtime and double-shifts. This increase in hours can lead to sleep deprivation, poor nutrition and fatigue. Worse yet, it can result in a decrease in patient safety.
According to a study entitled Managing fatigue: it’s about sleep by Dawson and McCulloch, there’s a 3.4% chance of an error occurring when nurses obtain six hours or less of sleep during a 24-hour period. This may sound like a small number but consider this: If an average teaching hospital has 1,000 nursing shifts per day, this error percentage equals 34 daily errors. Over a year, that’s more than 12,000 patients whose lives are at risk because nurses aren’t getting adequate sleep. While this is a serious problem, there are steps you can take to reduce this risk.
Below are a few ways that facilities can prevent or lessen nurse fatigue:Consider Not Having 12-Hour Shifts
- Try 12-hour days with two six-hour shifts through the night to break up the work
- At the very least, staffing a 12-hour shift during the day makes it easier on nursing staff
Don’t Have Staff Meetings at 7:30 A.M.
- Don’t schedule staff meetings or holiday parties after long shifts that will keep your staff awake longer than they should be
Create Staffing Thresholds
- Have no more than two consecutive 12-hour shifts
- Make sure nurses work no more than four or five days straight without a day off
- Limit weekly overtime hours
Consider Four-Hour Block Staffing
- You may have greater success with enlisting pool and per diem staff to work four-hour shifts instead of eight-hour shifts
- Your staff may be agreeable to taking two four-hour holiday breaks rather than one day off, so this is also worth exploring
Share Health Promotion and Wellness Education Materials
- If you don’t know what you’re doing poorly, you don’t know how to correct it – so provide your nurses with materials that help them learn and implement good sleep and holiday stress practices
Create Rest Spots
- Doing something as simple as creating a quiet, comfortable area where nursing staff can take a 15- or 20-minute power nap can recharge mental alertness for the remainder of their shift
Serve Free Coffee
- Small amounts of caffeine can improve alertness without disrupting sleep, so free coffee is a small way to make a significant improvement
Encourage Exercise
- If your facility has a treadmill or exercise bike, encouraging nursing staff to use the equipment for a few minutes on their break can increase alertness and attention
Get Everyone Involved
- Educate your entire team on fatigue risks and assign adjunct support staff to help with making safety rounds
Philadelphia, PA, 19102
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