Extended Work Hours And Patient Care Essay

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We have used previously collected data and published research evidence to gather what can currently be known about the potential impact of long shifts on staff and patient outcomes. Specifically, the study set out to address the following:
• What is a link between health care worker shift hours and working injuriesm
• Is there any core -relation between extended work hours and nurse’s health i.e. physical as well as psychological?
• What impact does shift length have on the quality of patient care? The effect of shift length on quality of patient care and healthcare provider outcomes is an issue of ongoing and intense debate. The healthcare workers working extended hours has been the potential (negative) impact on the quality of patient care and on patient safety. Errors during medication administration, as well as during procedures and charting have been suggested as reasons for …show more content…

The evidence is growing that long work hours and shift work are linked to errors in the delivery of patient care. Shift work can have an impact on the physical and psychological well-being of the healthcare worker, affecting patients as well as their own safety at the workplace. Examined data from four states of nurses, their hospitals, and their patients. They reported that shifts greater than 13 hours were linked to patient dissatisfaction. (Stimpfle, et al (2012)
Specifically, patients reported that nurses were not communicating well, their pain was not controlled, they did not get help as soon as they wanted, and they would not recommend the hospital. In this study, nurses with shifts greater than 13 hours had over double the risk of burnout and job dissatisfaction. The working hours of nurses and their errors or near-errors during work. They found nurses had over three times the odds of making an error when working 12 or more hours, compared with 8.5-hour shifts. Rogers, et al

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