Prevalence and Effects of Sleep Disorders Among Shift Work Nurses

Sleep is one of the most basic and physiologic needs, which has impressive effects on the humans’ physical and mental health. According to the need for permanent presence of the nurses in the hospitals, they often suffer from shift work effects such as sleep disorders. Considering the high sensitivity of nursing jobs, the aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and consequence of sleep disorders in shift work nurses. This cross-sectional study was conducted on all of the nurses employed in hospitals of Larestan city in south of Iran in 2017. After screening based on inclusion criteria, 100 nurses were selected. to evaluate the prevalence and consequence of sleep disorders in the nurses, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleep Quality Index (ESQI) and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) were used. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version16. Descriptive and analytical statistical tests, including One-way ANOVA, paired t-test, independent t-test, Kruskal-Wallis, chi-square, and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to analyze the data. A P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The results showed the mean score of sleep quality index was 6.52 ± 4.23 and according to this index, 56% of the studied nurses are in hazardous situations. In all of the nurses, sings of insomnia were observed during routine works; consequently, 78.5% were sleepy, 16.5% were very sleepy, and 5% were severe sleepy. By the increased rate of night shift work per week, the severity of insomnia was also increased in the nurses (R2 = 0.78). Sleep disorders in the nurses working in the surgical section were higher than the nurses in other sections of the hospitals (P < 0.05). A high percentage of the nurses employed in different sections of the hospitals have poor sleep quality and increased rate of night shift work per week plays a major role in decreasing their sleep quality. Regarding the adverse effects of poor sleep quality on the health status of the nurses and their quality of job performance, it is necessary to carry out proper planning to improve the sleep quality of night shift work nurses employed in different sections of the hospitals.