12 Hour Shift Essay

Nurses are cautioned on working longer than 8 hour shifts by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. According to ( ) about 23,000 nurses who provide direct care are working 12 hour shifts. These 12 hour shifts are contributing to an increased amount of fatigue. When nurses are unable to recover after long periods of time this effects their ability to be alert when driving home. There is a serious concern of the long term wear and tear 12 hour shifts can have on the body. These hours can also negatively affect ones physical and mental health state. * states it is critical to not push ourselves beyond our human limits. A cross- cultural experiment conducted by () focuses on the recovery levels of nurses working 12 hour shifts. The study uses the Occupational Fatigue and Exhaustion Recovery scale (OFER). This study was conducted in three hospitals. The OFER scale used three subscales to reference important categories. The first subscale is chronic fatigue/ exhaustion while at work. The next subscale is acute fatigue, which emphasizes on the desire to engage in outside activities after the work shift is over. The last subscale the experiment looked at was the length of time it took a subject to recover from one shift to the next effectively. The outcome of this study shows that one’s ability and mental awareness is seriously

altered the longer a subject worked. The results show a clear connection that hospitals human resources are not matching their demands. Administration therefore, should use these results and share the responsibility of achieving a healthy recovery schedule to benefit both the employee and the patient.
Researching further, about 26%-36% of medicine is administered incorrectly by nurses after working long shifts over duration of time. Those statistics result in the 3.5 billion dollars that are lost each year in medical errors, wages, and expenses states (). Administration of medication is a very critical and important step in a floor nurses day. Medication errors as it relates to fatigue, can happen at any step of the medication process. A survey conducted by the team of medical journalist at Health Affairs, measured the odds of medication error after working shifts lasting long than 8 hours.
Analysis shows that medicine error significantly rises after working a long duration of 12 hour shifts.

Errors are three times more likely to happen on 12 hour shifts than 8 hour shifts. A 2008 study by Pam Anderson and Tina Townsend, proved that fatigue, stress and understaffing contributes to the high percent of medical errors. Anderson and Townsend explore various studies that suggest 12 hour shifts contribute negatively to the medication error rate. In these studies comparing performance of 12 hour shifts, older nurses had difficulty adjusting the circadian rhymes and trouble maintaining work performance during their

shifts.
Anderson and Townsend also concluded that the ability to process and act quickly declines when working 12 hour shifts. Anderson and Townsend state that those who work 12 hour shifts tend to have long commutes and in turn usually stay awake for up to 18 consecutive