Abstract
Objectives
To describe sleep duration and work characteristics among registered nurses (“nurses”)
across health care settings and unit types and determine the association between sleep
duration and quality of care and patient safety.
Design
We used an observational, retrospective design. Survey data were collected from two
cohorts of nurses in 2015 and 2016.
Setting
Health care and community settings across the United States, primarily acute care
hospitals.
Participants
Nurses working in a staff or general duty position (N=1,568).
Measurements
The independent variable was nurses' sleep duration before work and nonwork days.
The two dependent variables were nurse reported quality of care (single item rating)
and overall patient safety, measured by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
(AHRQ) Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture.
Results
Nurses reported an average of 414 minutes, or just less than 7 hours, of sleep before
a work day and 497 minutes, or just over 8 hours, before a nonwork day. Short sleep
duration was statistically significantly associated with lower ratings of quality
of care (p=.002) and patient safety (p=.000).
Conclusions
Nurses are sleeping, on average, less than recommended amounts before work, which
may be impacting their health and performance on the job. Health care managers may
consider interventions to support nurses’ sleep to improve patient care. Further research
is warranted.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 11, 2019
Accepted:
November 6,
2019
Received in revised form:
October 29,
2019
Received:
May 29,
2019
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 National Sleep Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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- Erratum regarding missing declaration of competing interest statements in previously published articlesSleep Health: Journal of the National Sleep FoundationVol. 6Issue 6
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