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Combating pilot fatigue
Combating pilot fatigue
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Introduction
Most of the Aviation accidents have been greatly attributed to “Pilot Fatigue” (Mohler, 1998). This is because a pilot’s input into the aircraft is majorly dependent on his consciousness on the job, therefore incase he or she may be fatigued then this provides room for error in his inputs (Smith, 2008). Even though the technological advancements in avionics the flight systems of the current aircrafts have preventive mechanisms put in place that makes sure that the pilots are always alert, without sleep and freshened, small effects of fatigue can greatly jeopardize flight safety (Mohler, 1998). This is so because the duties performed by the pilot in the cockpit require a lot of vigilance, care as well as both mental and physical well being and alertness. Having considered this it is very hard to eliminate the cockpit noise, aircraft vibration, the long flights; little sleep as well as irregular work schedules which are the major contributors to pilot fatigue and which can have great influence on his or her performance. This paper dissects the major factors that cause pilot fatigue; the impact of pilot fatigue as well as the damages associated with the same and concludes with ways of managing the same.
Defining Pilot Fatigue
According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA, 2009) fatigue is a subjective feeling of tiredness which in respect distorts one’s ability to concentrate on a particular task and the task often seems difficult even though the one performing the task may be an expert in the same field. Jackson (2006) adds on to say that fatigue itself is a condition that reflects inadequate rest combined with a myriad of symptoms that are closely associated with displaced, interrupted or and disturbed biologic...
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Jackson, A. C. & Earl, L. (2006). Prevalence of fatigue among commercial pilots. Oxford Journals. Retrieved from http://occmed.oxfordjournals.org/content/56/4/263.full
Mohler, S. R. (1998). Pilot Fatigue Manageable, But Remains Insidious Threat. Human Factors & Aviation Medicine: Vol. 45: 1. Retrieved from http://www.smartcockpit.com/data/pdfs/flightops/humanfactors/Pilot_Fatigue.pdf
Printup, M. (2000). The Effects Of Fatigue On Performance And Safety. AirlineSafety.Com. Retrieved from http://www.airlinesafety.com/editorials/PilotFatigue.htm
Smith, B. L. (2008). Pilot Fatigue Detection Using Aircraft State Variables. West Virginia University: College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. Retrieved from http://wvuscholar.wvu.edu:8881//exlibris/dtl/d3_1/apache_media/L2V4bGlicmlzL2R0bC9kM18xL2FwYWNoZV9tZWRpYS8xMzk3MA==.pdf
Muscle fatigue is a decline in ability of a muscle to generate force within any part of the body. Muscular fatigue is a particular response when it comes to an untrained athlete that is starting an intense workout program, and the muscles of the body is not able to respond in an orderly manner as it would respond to an elite athlete. This paper will focus and provide general information about recent studies on peripheral fatigue. Peripheral fatigue is one of the sites for possible fatigue and its where neural, mechanical, or energetic events can hamper tension development. Neural fatigue is a factor of peripheral fatigue, which occurs when the nerves are unable to generate a signal and this reduces the ability of the muscle fiber to contract which is considered to be metabolic fatigue. Neural factors deals with the movement of action potential going through a process to produce a muscle contraction and when this process does not go through the proper steps then fatigue set in because the muscles will not be able to contract. Neural fatigue has two main factors which is, a shortage of...
Alarm fatigue is a growing problem that causes nurses to feel overwhelmed and not perform to the best of their abilities. Many people don’t understand the concept of alarm fatigue until they are in a hospital and hear the different noises going on first hand. Alarm fatigue occurs when nurses or other health care members have sensory overload due to the alarms, which then lead to ignoring the alarms raising concerns with patient safety (Horkan, 2014).
The thyroid is the energy generator of the body. All of us experience fatigue at some time in our lives because of lack of sleep, overwork, or stress. For individuals with hypothyroidism, fatigue is a way of life. There never seems to be enough energy. But, you don’t have to feel this way. For those who suffer from hypothyroidism, there is HOPE.
In the recent past, nursing has come to the forefront as a popular career amongst students across the globe. The demand for nurses has kept increasing gradually over the years. In fact, the number of registered nurses does not meet the demand of the private and public health sector. This phenomenon has resulted in a situation where the available registered nurses have to work extra hours in order to meet the patients’ needs. With this in mind, the issue of nurse fatigue has come up as a common problem in nursing. According to the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA), nurse fatigue is “a feeling of tiredness” that penetrates a persons physical, mental and emotional realms limiting their ability to function normally. Fatigue does not just involve sleepiness as has been assumed before. It involves utter exhaustion that is not easily mitigated through rest. When nurses ignore the signs of fatigue, they risk the development of chronic fatigue and other health problems that may not be easily treated. Additionally, fatigue may cause nurses to lose more time at work as they may have to be away from work for several days to treat it. The issue of nurse fatigue has permeated the nursing profession to the extent of causing errors in the work performed by nurses. Fatigue causes a decrease in a nurse’s ability to make accurate decisions for themselves and their patients. It is therefore important to find ways to curb nurse fatigue such that it is no longer a problem. Nurse fatigue is a danger to the patients, organizations and to the nurses themselves and must be mitigated adequately.
So what is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or CFS? I would like to be able to explain exactly what CFS is, but true to the nature of what is known about this illness, there is no precise way to describe CFS. Rather, the disease is identified through a number of symptoms (both physical and psychological), including unexplained and persistent fatigue of new or definite onset, concurrent with short-term memory loss, sore throat, tender axillary lymph nodes, muscle pain and unrefreshing sleep, among a number of others, for a duration of at least six months. As is probably evident, the above symptoms, in addition to being signs of CFS, are also the same (or very similar) symptoms experienced in such diseases as Lymes disease and "the flu." There are symptoms that involve the Gastrointestinal Tract (GI), immunological-related symptoms, symptoms of psychiatric disease like depression, sexual malfunction, endocrine dysfunction-basically every system in the body. This is part of the reason why CFS is hard to detect, and is usually chosen as a diagnosis only at the exclusion of all other possible ailments. The other difficulty that lies with diagnosing CFS is that there is no way of measuring the level of a person's fatigue-there is no way for a physician to tell whether a patient complaining of fatigue is experiencing the type of fatigue associated with CFS or he/she is just extremely tired and overworked.
First, stress in the lives of police officers often result in poor performance from sleep deprivation and panic. Sleep deprivation is one effect that stress can have on officers. The fatigue that stress causes can very literally kill the affected officer. Many times, officers hold anxiety inside them. When they are in bed, they are oftentimes let alone to think, which leads to many “racing thoughts” and “what if’s” (Koeling). Thinking about such things can keep officers awake for hours, leaving them fatigued and sleep-deprived when they report for work the next day. More causes of sleep deprivation are due to stressful, long shifts and odd hours (Casey). As a third-shift security guard for four years, Carl Koeling has had his share of sleep deprivation. In a recent interview, he said that when he stood a sleep-deprived watch, he remembers feeling “lightheaded and woozy” (Koeling). As a psychologist for thirty-eight years, Koeling also knows that fatigue caused by stress can also affect officers’ judgement, balance, and physical health (Koeling). It is vital that these three things be working properly for those in law enforcement, as the work they do often depends on good decision-making, decent balance, and high levels of physical fitness and well-being (Miller “Law Enforcement”). Panic is another effect that stress can have on police officers.
Fatigue is a growing concern and issue in the aviation industry. Although it has been for some time, recently mounting workloads and stress have factored into creating an escalating problem with real casualties and repercussions. “Pilot fatigue, heavy workloads… may have contributed to an air ambulance crashing into the sea at night during a medical mission…” (Crash Blamed 2006 p.31). Fatigue is an “insidious” condition that affects a pilot in a way that might make him feel justified in his decisions. (Wald 2008 C3). Without realizing the effects of sleepiness and stress, pilots often times make the wrong decision, believing it to be the right one, and suffering severe consequences, such as: passenger injures, crew injuries or even death, which occurs more often than not.
Researchers have linked burnout as a contributing factor health conditions such as sleep disturbances, decreased immune system. Professions that are prone to burnout are those who require a great deal of contact and responsibility of other people. Among those professions are teachers, nurses, physicians, social workers, therapists, police, an...
This issue has increased the urgency for driver inattentiveness and drowsiness detection system technology, to compensate for driver error. The system which is developed will run in a simulated environment with a subject (driver) sitting in front of the camera which is integrated with the software. This system will present a non-intrusive approach for drowsiness detection based on computer vision. A camera is placed in front of the driver in order to detect his face and obtain drowsiness clues form their eye closure and yawning component. If the system detects that the eyes are closed for a certain no. of frames then it will buzz an alert alarm indicating the driver to be
Lippincott , Williams, & Wilkins, (2012). Sentinel event alert spotlights nurse fatigue. Clinical Rounds, 42(3), 27-29. doi: 10.1097/01.NURSE.0000411416.14033.f5
Stress is just a part of every day life in the Special Forces community. An inability to make decisions and a failure to function at a high level under stress will not only lead to mission failure but is also extremely deadly. You start your paper by making an excellent point on how proper stress management is vital to a person’s well-being (Fisher, 2009). The stress that comes from being a Special Forces pilot does not involve the normal stresses of the cooperate world, but of
According to The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it is estimated that fatigue is a cause in 100,000 auto crashes and 1,550 crash-related deaths a year in the U.S.
Allan Chernoff. (2010). FAA Moving to Prevent Aging Aircraft Dangers. Retrieved February 10, 2011, from http://articles.cnn.com/2010-11-12/travel/fatigue.damage
Human beings are at times lazy, they always look for the easy way to everything, so they use shortcuts in all parts of their life including their professional one. But, when employees take shortcuts while accomplishing their tasks, especially when working with chemicals or complex machinery, often they put themselves at risk of being injured or dying. Further, a worker’s personal and professional life are linked, so if he or she is stressed, it might affect their ability to concentrate, which causes
To begin with, the right amount of rest benefits people’s mental performances. Mark Rosekind of NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, conducted an experiment and stated that a pilot’s mental performance increased by 34% after a 26-minute nap; and a 45-minute nap had the same outcome but the effects lasted more than six hours (Pg. 3 Paragraph 14). Professor David F. Dinges and a group of researchers, from the University of Pennsylvania, discovered that even short naps reduce the amount of