Multifactorial analysis of fatigue scale among nurses in Poland

Acute and chronic fatigue in nurses providing direct patient care and in non-direct care roles: A cross-sectional analysis

Nurses are at risk for work-related fatigue, which can impact their health, well-being, and job readiness. The purpose of this study was to examine the levels, types, and factors associated with fatigue in registered nurses (RNs) in direct patient care (DCRNs) and in non-direct patient care (non-DCRNs) roles. A cross-sectional survey was administered to 313 RNs. Measures included: Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory, Occupational Fatigue Exhaustion Recovery, Brief COPE, PROMIS® Global Sleep Disturbance, and Job Content Questionnaire. Acute fatigue levels in RNs were similar to those in diseased populations, and nearly 50% reported moderate/high levels of chronic fatigue. DCRNs reported higher levels of acute and chronic fatigue than non-DCRNs, but the differences were small and disappeared when accounting for other factors associated with fatigue including sleep disturbance, job strain, workplace support, maladaptive coping, and especially intershift recovery, which accounted for 20%-41% of fatigue variability. This study suggests that it may not be only nurses providing direct patient care who are at risk for acute and chronic fatigue. Intershift recovery may be particularly important in alleviating acute and chronic fatigue in nurses.

Nurses' autonomy in sleep management improves patients' sleep quality: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

The current literature indicates that intensive care (ICU) patients' sleep quality is generally poor, which is associated with serious physical and psychological consequences.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To describe the practices nurses use to provide good-quality sleep to adult ICU patients and assess nurses' perceptions of patients' sleep quality and nurses' professional autonomy in sleep management.

DESIGN

A descriptive-correlational, cross-sectional study.

METHODS

A total of 232 ICU nurses from four hospitals in Poland were recruited. Data were collected between May and August 2019 using a previously developed questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests.

RESULTS

A total of 119 nurses took part in the study (response rate: 51%). On average, nurses rated patients' sleep quality as moderate (4.44 ± 2.23, scale 0-10). Most of the respondents (95.8%) said they did not use any sleep protocol. Various strategies to improve patients' sleep were used sporadically (2.64 ± 1.55, scale 1-5). The use of sleep quality assessment methods was positively correlated with patients' sleep quality (rho = 0.22, P = .02). Nurses' professional autonomy regarding sleep management was assessed as average (4.34 ± 2.43, scale 0-10) and was correlated with the patients' sleep quality (rho = 0.25, P < .01). Nurses who rated their autonomy in patients' sleep management more highly (rho = 0.29, P < .01) and more often influenced patients' sleep decisions (rho = 0.24, P < .01) used more methods to improve patients' sleep.

CONCLUSIONS

Strengthening the professional autonomy of ICU nurses and creating a reliable sleep assessment and improvement tool, which would describe strategies nurses can implement independently could increase sleep quality among ICU patients.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Addressing organizational problems, which hamper the patients' sleep management by ICU nurses could result in using more strategies to provide good-quality sleep to ICU patients. There is a need for clinical guidelines regarding patients' sleep management to help educate and guide nurses how to independently use sleep improvement methods.