Investigation of the relationship between shift scheduling practices and workplace injuries

摘要

Research has shown that shift work has an important impact on circadian rhythms which can create various types of physical and psychological disturbances. Among the documented disturbances are chronic fatigue, excessive sleepiness, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular pathologies. Since the most often used schedules for shift workers violate circadian principles, it is not surprising that such workers have a higher probability of causing an accident and/or incurring a work-related injury when they are experiencing mental or physical fatigue. It is the intent of this study to consider the implications that the choice in shift type has on nursing staff and to determine where deficiencies in current practice may occur. Our study focused on the scheduling practices of hospital nursing staff. A key finding is that current scheduling methods produce static schedules that do not hilly cope with dynamic changes in patient load and staff availability.