Long Shift In Nursing Essay

As one can suspect there are many dangers for nursing working long shifts both for the patient and nurse alike. Studies are finding that one common issue with long shifts is that nurses get very little sleep. In a study by the University of Baltimore, MD it was found that on average nurses got 5.5 hours of sleep between 12 hour shifts (News Medical, 2010). These short amounts of sleep coupled with long shift lengths leaves nurses more susceptible to making errors on the job which can affect themselves and most definitely their patients. Sleep-deprived, overworked employees experience lapses in attention and fatigue during their shifts. “The odds of making errors by those reported working more than 12 hours in shifts was three times greater

In healthcare in particular, patient satisfaction is of paramount importance. Patients who are not satisfied with their care are less likely to go back to that hospital in the future and are less likely to recommend that hospital to their family members and friends. It is generally noted that a benefit of nurses working longer shifts is that there is better continuity of care as there are less hand offs, and the nurse is with the patient throughout a longer portion of the day. However, data shows that in most aspects patient satisfaction decreases as the length of a nurse's shift increases. In the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey, patients rated their experience in several areas in regards to the care they received during their admission at a hospital. The numbers for this study are rather alarming, especially for those patients who had nurses working 13 or greater hours per shift. When patients needed something, they did not receive assistance as quickly as those patients who had nurses working shorter shifts. One issue related to this included regulation of pain control in which patients stated it was sometimes or never controlled. Moreover, patients did not feel that the nurse communicated well with them and patient teaching was poor as well. With nurses working such long hours, it would seem from this study that they are receiving substandard care. This is definitely an issue that needs to be further addressed in healthcare, as the patient should be receiving the best care possible. Needless to say, of the hospital patients surveyed in this study, as the shift length increases especially to the 13+ hour range, a higher number of patients gave the hospital a lower rating. Furthermore, they were less likely to recommend the hospital to family and friends (Stimpfel et al.,