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Study shows nurses get less sleep the nights before they’re scheduled to work

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Photo: LaylaBird/iStocckphoto

New York — Nurses get nearly 90 minutes less sleep before shifts compared with days they don’t work, according to a recent study from New York University’s Rory Meyers College of Nursing.

Researchers examined results of separate surveys conducted in 2015 and 2016, analyzing responses from nearly 1,600 nurses regarding personal sleep habits and quality of patient care. Findings showed that the nurses slept an average of six hours, 54 minutes on nights before scheduled work shifts and eight hours, 17 minutes before nonwork days – a deficit of 83 minutes.

Further, the researchers found that getting less sleep before working “may have an impact on their health and performance on the job,” Amy Witkoski Stimpfel, lead study author and assistant professor of nursing at NYU, said in a Dec. 12 press release.

In addition to commute times and personal responsibilities, the researchers cited the prevalence of shift work and 12-hour shifts in nursing as possible triggers for nurses getting less sleep. The body’s circadian clock can be impaired when the body is active at times when it believes it should be at rest.

 

“It is in everyone’s interest to have nurses well-rested so they can perform their critical function within the health care system and keep patients safe,” Christine Kovner, study co-author and professor of geriatric nursing at NYU, said in the release.

The study was published online Dec. 11 in the journal Sleep Health.

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Angie4s
January 3, 2020
I think as we get older 12 hour shift is no longer helpful as it affects our health and performance with patient care

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Cris
January 6, 2020
I wake up several times through the night before my shift. I worry about patient load, am i going to be on time, what the day is going to bring. The paitent : nurse ratio is too high, corporate greed is pushing nurse's to their limit.

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Mj
January 6, 2020
I agree with this article. I’m anxious and worried the day before I go to work and so it affects my sleep, constantly waking up. Working 12-13 hours, long drive, the constant stress and dreading what the day will bring play the part of less sleep.

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Marty
January 7, 2020
The night before a shift I toss and turn with anxiety. Bedside nursing is not what it used to be. Twelve hours is too long to maintain the mental focus and physical demands with understaffing on top of the commute. We need to go to shorter hours. I could do it in my 20s but pushing 50, and added in with so much charting for EMRs, I can't see doung this much longer, at least not full time.

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Rob curran
January 7, 2020
Id love to see some insulin level/ physiological stress study.

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Elizabeth Cason
January 7, 2020
Wonder how many hours sleep night shift get the night before work?

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Anita
January 12, 2020
My worst night's sleep is always the night before I return to work from days off. Like most of the people who have commented, for me it's due to anxiety about what the shift will bring, whether we'll have the resources to cope and if not, whether this is the week that I'll make an error that affects patients or my career as a result of resource scarcity.

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DocRD
January 15, 2020
Appreciate the focus of this study on Nursing staff as they are front line in caring for hospital/healthcare patients. Less sleep is certainly a risk factor as are reduced staff levels resulting in longer work shifts, higher patient:nurse ratios, EMR, facility environmental factors putting staff and patients at risk. I would offer that similar sleep pattern disruptions would be found in other professional staff on the night before their return to work. And similar risk factors (staffing, scheduled hours, EMR related tasks, facility factors), again, affect the health, safety, and welfare of all.

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jj
January 19, 2020
I would agree that as a nurse the night before working I do not obtain the sleep I should. When I was working nights I barely got a nap in and would only sleep 4 hours between shifts due to my long commute and just not being able to sleep. Everything is about the budget, but we really need to look at what’s best for the nurse. It would be interesting to see about sleep, burnout and patient satisfaction between nurses working eight or twelve hour shifts.

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Kris Lindsay
February 8, 2020
Because we dread going to work.

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Chris
February 8, 2020
Before a shift at the hospital I would toss and turn and sleep poorly. The day before a shift I was always more cranky with the kids and would burst into tears at the drop of a hat. Worrying what the day would bring, knowing before you got there that you would have more work than you could manage, you won't have time for a break and if anything goes wrong and you need help from management that it won't be provided just fills you with a sense of dread that keeps you up at night.The majority of the nurses on my ward were on anti anxiety medication and had gastrointestinal problems from long term stress and going long periods without eating or drinking, or going to the toilet.