Sleep Disorders in Military Nurses

Nurses must stay awake during the night to provide nursing cares. This can cause sleep problems in these personnel. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of sleep disorders among military nurses. A sample of 272 nurses who were randomly selected with a multi stage cluster method, participated in this cross sectional study. Sleep quality and day time sleepiness were assessed based on Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Epworth sleepiness scale. Demographic characteristics were also collected and all data analyzed with SPSS 15. Of 272 studied nurses, 43% were male and 57% were female. Daytime Sleepiness score was achieved 16%. Most of the nurses had a degree of sleep disruption (63.8%) and only 10.9% had not had any sleep disorders. Due to similar rate of sleep disorders and sleepiness in military nurses to other shift work personnel, necessary measures should be similarly taken to reduce this problem.