Nurses face sleep disorders due to work stress, schedules: Research
Recent research A study led by an international team of researchers has found that more than half of nurses experienced sleep disorders during the first six months of the pandemic, leading to anxiety and depression.
The study is published in the ‘Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine’.
“Nurses are already threatened by higher levels of depression and inadequate sleep due to the stress of patient care and the nature of shift work. The pandemic appears to have exacerbated these problems at the expense of nurses’ well-being,” he said. Amy Witkoski StimpfelPhD, RN, Associate Professor at Rory Meyers College of Nursing, NYU, and lead author of the study.
Nurses have faced unprecedented challenges in working at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic, including staff shortages, early lack of personal protective equipment, and witnessing widespread suffering and death.
Research is beginning to reveal the impact of these ongoing stressors on nurses ’mental health and well-being.
In this study, researchers interviewed 629 nurses and interviewed 34 nurses from June to August 2020. Nurses who worked in health care facilities in 18 states were asked about their experiences of working during the first six months of the pandemic in the United States.
The study revealed high rates of depression (22 percent), anxiety (52 percent), and insomnia (55 percent) among nurses. In particular, sleep difficulties were both a contributing factor and a consequence of poor mental health.
Sleeping just five hours or less before a shift increased the likelihood of depression, anxiety, and insomnia. However, nurses also described how anxiety and contemplation of stressful working conditions — lack of staff, transfer to the COVID unit, lack of personal protective equipment, and many patient deaths — made it difficult to fall asleep and wake up at night.
In addition to stress-related sleep problems, changes in nurses ’work schedules, either due to extra working hours or a sudden change in day and night shifts, led to a decrease in nurses’ sleep.
“We found that sleep disorders are intertwined with anxiety and depressive symptoms,” Witkoski Stimpfel said.
“Previous research supports this two-way relationship between sleep and mental health. We know that adequate sleep increases mental and emotional endurance, while inadequate sleep exposes the brain to negative thinking and mental vulnerability,” Stimpfel added.
To better support nurses and their well-being, researchers are urging employers to address the factors that affect work-related stress and sleep. In addition to ensuring that nurses have sufficient resources, such as staff, beds, and personal protective equipment, to enable them to do their jobs effectively, employers can provide training in stress management and provide guidance to mental health professionals in need.
Employers should also pay attention to schedules, ensuring the absence of nurses, protecting them from excessive overtime and rapidly changing day and night shifts, and providing flexible working arrangements.
“Our results will help us better understand the difficulties faced by nurses – and why some nurses leave their jobs or the industry altogether – but also reveal opportunities for hospitals and other employers to support this critical workforce,” Witkoski Stimpfel said.
Other authors of the study include e.g. Lloyd Goldsamt and Victoria Vaughan Dickson NYU Meyers and Lauren Ghazal From the University of Michigan. The research was supported by NYU’s COVID-19 Research Catalyst grant.
Source: ANI