By Susan Anderson

SHIFT WORK – 8 HOURS VERSUS 12 HOURS AND ITS’ EFFECTS

In long-term care settings, how does staff working 8 hour shifts, compared to staff working 12 hour shifts, affect safety and overall patient care?

Introduction

Have to work 5 days in week to get full time hours

More faces patients have to learn Less continuity of care

CON

Shorter work hours More time in day for other things Higher patient satisfaction

PRO

8 Hour Shift

Long hours Work fatigue, stress, burnout More prone to make errors Due to hand offs and finishing up the

loose ends of work, longer than the 12 hours worked

Decreased levels of alertness Increased instances of needle-stick

injuries and musculoskeletal injuries Poorer quality of care and safety

CON

Shorter work week = more time off Better continuity of care Less vacancy rates More satisfaction with schedules Jobs fill more quickly with 12 hour

shifts Patients learn who the staff are,

meaning less shift changes

PRO

12 Hour Shift

Sentinel Event

Reduce risks of injury or death

Effort to reduce medical errors and worker fatigue

Strategies

Joint Commission

Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey (HCAHPS)

Standardized survey instrument and data collection method to measure the perspectives of the patients in regards to hospital health care

9 key topics surveyed

HCAHPS Survey

Nope! Just give me the risks, boys.

What was the HCAHPS Survey outcome?

What does the survey mean?

The contradiction found! The results.

Any Mention of Patient Safety?

Inadequate staffing

Rotating shift schedules

Consecutive shifts

Incentives for being mandated or volunteering

Lets Not Forget About Mandating

Is there a conclusion to this?

What does this all mean?

References Ball, J., Dall'Ora, C., & Griffiths, P. (2015). The 12-hour Shift: Friend or

Foe? Nursing Times, 111(6), 12-14. Retrieved January 22, 2016, from http://www.nursingtimes.net/nursing-practice/specialisms/patient-safety/the-12-hour-shift-friend-or-foe/5081694.article

FMSCA. (2014, April 9). New Hours-of-Service Safety Regulations to Reduce Truck Driver Fatigue Begin Today . Retrieved from FMSCA: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/newsroom/new-hours-service-safety-regulations-reduce-truck-driver-fatigue-begin-today

Geiger-Brown, J., Rogers, V. E., Trinkoff, A. M., Kane, R. L., Bausell, R. B., & Scharf, S. M. (2011, November 28). Sleep, Sleepiness, Fatigue, and Performance of 12-Hour Shift Nurses. Chronobiology International, 29(2), 211-219. doi:10.3109/07420528.2011.645752

Rollins, J. A. (2015, July/August). The 12-Hour Shift. Pediatric Nursing, 41(4), 162-164. Retrieved January 22, 2016, from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.rasmussen.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=44ee17a1- 8cf0-43fb-a170-b34904647a10%40sessionmgr112&vid=8&hid=104

References Continued

Witkoski-Stimpfel, A., Sloane, D. M., & Aiken, L. H. (2012). The Longer The Shifts For Hospital Nurses, The Higher The Levels Of Burnout And Patient Dissatisfaction. Health Affairs, 31(11), 2501-2509. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2011.1377

References Continued