Safety Issues for ICU Nurses Working Long Hours and Shifts

ASSESSMENT TASK 3
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Running head: ASSESMENT TASK 3 2
Module 1
Safety issues for ICU nurses working for long hours and in different work shifts
Long working hours and shift work scheduling has been proven to pose ramifications
towards nurses in the Intensive care unit (ICU), as they affect their social, physiological and
psychological live. These factors have led to a number of risks that are associated to shift
work (Cribb, 2010). Shift work is commonly associated with night shifts and rotational shifts.
This, in turn, has forced ICU nurses to change their sleeping patterns, consequently causing
them to experience insomnia or excessive sleeping hence reducing the efficiency to perform
their duties effectively. During the night shifts, ICU nurses do sleep more while on duty than
during the day shifts (Cribb, 2010). This leads to the lowered neurocognitive functioning and
subsequently their performance is highly compromised. The brain feels sleepy hence the
making of quick decisions that needs accurate procedures as it is the normality of the ICU
nurses is again compromised.
Injuries that are associated to fatigue are always elevated when ICU nurses work for
long hours and change the shifts. These injuries can lead to fatal incidents that can threaten
the life of both the ICU nurses and the patients. More injurie occur in the evening’s shifts
than during the day shift ( de castro et al 2010; Gershon et al, 2009)
There have been high psychological effects associated with work shift. These include
but not limited to; depression, mood disturbances, relationship problems as well as
personality changes. Since the job also involves a lot of straining, the ICU nurses also
experience a lot of tension which can also lead to anger, anxiety and mental fatigue. Long
working hours also can lead to consequences associated with physical and psychological
harm, hence compromising the concentration of nurses in the emergence department to offer
their services that patients are in dire need of. According to Spurgeon, they found that

Running head: ASSESMENT TASK 3 3
working overtime for approximately 50 hours a week, can lead to adverse effects as
mentioned above. There has also been reported a high incident rate for musculoskeletal
injuries for nurses working overtime (Sujan & Spurgeon, 2014). To overcome these mental
and psychological effects, in French workers that are assigned in the shift modules used more
antidepressants in a bid to reduce the effects of depression and anxiety. Other related effects
that have been recorded is the consumption of alcohol, smoking and the use of caffeine, all
with an objective of reducing the physical and anxiety that is experienced in the working
environment. The ICU nursing speciality is emotionally demanding, it also requires that
nurses are always alert with high concentration. ICU nurses have to interact one on one with
visitors, clients, patients, and other staff members. Therefore, this interaction needs them to
have more emotional effort. However, this leads them to experience emotional exhaustion
and showing symptoms of anxiety. If this emotional pain is not solved, then it can affect the
level at which ICU nurses offer services to the patients ("NICE Evidence Search | five rights
medication", n.d.).
It has also been proven that these shifts can affect the circadian rhythms leading to
gastrointestinal complaints. There is a high risk of colon cancer for ICU nurses working for
three or more nights per month for fifteen years or more. For the reproductive health studies,
the long working hours, as well as the shift of work, have grave effects as far as reproductive
health of women is concerned. There have been reports on spontaneous abortions, preterm
birth, and lower fertility rates. Studies have also shown an elevated risk of breast cancer
among the women in night shift. This has been associated with the exposure of light during
the night (Callara, 2008). For those suffering from chronic diseases, shift work makes it
difficult to control and manage the disease and its symptoms. This is caused due to failure to
follow strict adherence to meals, exercise as well as the time to take medicines. The most
common medical conditions affected include but not limited to; hypertension, asthma,