Routine use of 12-hour shifts is questionable given the evidence on drugs errors, says Matt Griffiths

摘要

A lot of work has been carried out looking at how junior doctors' working hours affect the quality of care they give. The 2009 European Working Time Directive laid down minimum requirements for doctors' working hours, rest periods and annual leave. But there has been less research into how the length of nurses' shifts affects care quality.There is some evidence that nurses working longer shifts can increase the number of medication errors. A study by the University of Pennsylvania, which examined more than 5,300 shifts, showed that nurses who worked more than 12 hours in one shift could have error rates three times as high as colleagues working shorter shifts.