BACKGROUND

The need to reorganize hospital care in view of the inadequate number of staff available has led some departments to change shift hours to two 12-hour shifts daily. The impact of this organization on the quality of life (QoL) and daily life of caregivers has not been studied sufficiently.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of our study was to document the role of the type of schedule worked on QoL, fatigue, and burnout among critical care nursing and paramedical staff.

METHODS

A descriptive survey was conducted among the nurses, nurses' aides, and other paramedical staff of 3 critical care departments at the Timone Hospital Center in Marseille. Three groups were defined by the type of hours worked: 12-hour alternating night and day shifts, 10-hour nights, and 8-hour days. A booklet of questions was distributed to all staff; it contained one section that collected social, demographic, family and occupational data and another containing self-administered standardized and validated questionnaires that assessed QoL (SF36), fatigue (MFIS-5), and burnout (MBI).

RESULTS

The participation rate was 78%. The univariate analysis showed QoL was best in the group working 12-hour shifts, compared with the other 2 groups, while their levels of fatigue and burnout were similar. The multivariate approach, which sought to document the specific role of length of work shift on QoL showed that while the physical component of QoL might be influenced by number of hours worked (staff working 10-hour nights had lower QoL scores than either of the others), but the psychological component was not; only gender and duration of commute were significantly associated with QoL.

CONCLUSION

These results add yet more divergence to the already existing reports on how employees experience the length of their workday. The specific scheduling does not appear to affect either fatigue or the mental component of QoL, but does appear to affect the physical component of QoL. Other studies are necessary to validate these initial approaches.