Nursing Assignment: Effects of Sleep Loss in RNs, Prevention

This nursing discussion post analyzes a classmate's initial post concerning the effects of sleep deprivation on Registered Nurses (RNs). The initial post identifies anxiety and impaired cognitive abilities as acute effects and obesity and type 2 diabetes as chronic complications. While the original post suggests strategies to mitigate these risks, this response suggests that providing RNs with a full day off after long shifts would be a more effective strategy for protecting both their health and the quality of patient care. References are made to the provided assignment brief and the relevant research papers. The post emphasizes the importance of addressing sleep deprivation to improve the quality of care and protect the well-being of nursing professionals. The author suggests that hospital management should implement strategies to protect the health of nurses, such as providing a complete day off after long working hours.

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
NURSING ASSIGNMENT (discussion post)
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1NURSING ASSIGNMENT
The primary aim of the initial post by my fellow classmate was to identify one chronic
and one acute effect of sleep loss due to the extended shifts or overload of RNs so that the
negative effects of these aspects could be identified. This post identified anxiety, impaired
cognitive abilities as the acute complication, whereas, obesity, type 2 diabetes and other critical
complication was identified as the chronic condition of sleep deprivation (Eanes, 2015). This
post effectively mentions the beneficial and harmful effect of sleep deprivation among RNs, and
through the proper description of its effect upon the nursing professionals, it identified all the
aspects that would help in affecting the quality of care process.
However, the suggestion provided in this post to overcome the risk related to sleep
deprivation cannot eliminate this situation completely. As per Rotenberg et al. (2016), it is
important for the quality improvement of the care process that the nursing professionals are
provided with rest and hence, this aspect should be considered by healthcare facilities around the
world. This post mentioned that the RNs should sleep before leaving after long hours so that
while travelling or working in such condition, their chances of error could be reduced. However,
in my opinion, the nursing professionals should be provided with a complete day off after
working long hours and the hospital management should implement this strategies effectively, so
that with implementation of effective and quality healthcare, the nursing professionals and their
health could also be protected. Hence, this strategy has been proposed to tackle this situation.

2NURSING ASSIGNMENT
References
Eanes, L. (2015). CE: the potential effects of sleep loss on a nurse's health. AJN The American
Journal of Nursing, 115(4), 34-40. Doi; 10.1097/01.NAJ.0000463025.42388.10
Rotenberg, L., Silva-Costa, A., Vasconcellos-Silva, P. R., & Griep, R. H. (2016). Work schedule
and self-reported hypertension–the potential beneficial role of on-shift naps for night
workers. Chronobiology international, 33(6), 697-705.doi;
https://doi.org/10.3109/07420528.2016.1167721