Abstract
Background
Previous research has shown that emergency physicians have an increased risk of shift
work sleep disorder, potentially compromising their health, wellness, and effectiveness
as a physician.
Objectives
This study explores the effect of shift work on sleep in emergency doctors. The hypothesis
of the evaluation is that daytime sleep onset would lead to the poorest sleep, implying
poor recovery after a night shift.
Methods
Sleep patterns were examined in emergency physicians in an academic emergency department.
Twenty-seven individuals completed data collection, wearing wrist actigraphy devices
over 3 months. Time of sleep onset was categorized as falling into 1 of 3 ranges:
interval 1—day sleepers (6:00 am–2:00 pm), interval 2—evening sleepers (2:00 pm–10:00 pm), or interval 3—night sleepers (10:00 pm–6:00 am). Data from each interval were analyzed for median duration, sleep latency, and night-time
interruptions.
Results
Daytime sleep sessions had a median total sleep duration of 5.3 ± 2 h, much less than
7.3 ± 1.8 h (interval 2—evening), and 7.0 ± 1.1 h (interval 3—night). Interval 2 sleepers
experienced the highest number of nightly awakenings (1.5) and the longest sleep latency
(36.5 min). Day sleepers (interval 1), assumed to be predominantly physicians recovering
from night shifts, had significantly less sleep than both evening and night sleepers
(p < 0.01), experiencing a 23.0% decrease in overall median sleep duration.
Conclusions
This study provides statistical findings that those working the night shift experience
significantly less sleep than emergency physicians working other shifts.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 29, 2019
Accepted:
April 19,
2019
Received in revised form:
April 4,
2019
Received:
July 31,
2018
Footnotes
Reprints are not available from the authors.
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
