Impact of shift work on excessive daytime sleepiness among healthcare professionals and its association with medical incidents: A review

Abstract

Sleep disorders, especially excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), is a common complaint among medical professionals such as physicians and nurses. EDS is associated with decreased level of alertness in everyday life and thus leads to road accidents, workspace errors, and lack of concentration in people. We reviewed the literature to know the influence of shift work in the development of EDS and to scrutinize the relation between EDS and medical incidents. In association with EDS, shift work is defined as major risk factors. As health-care professionals are regularly involved in shift work to complete the 24 h services, they were more prone to experience EDS and may cause occupational incidents. Even though it is apparent that working in long shifts leads to sleep disorders, as the body clock is unbalanced, ample or apt research is required to collect reliable evidence. Various studies have reported occupational errors among nurses on comparatively longer work hours like drug administration errors, needlestick injuries, and operational errors in the past 12 months. In conclusion, these variables, that is, shift work, EDS, and occupational errors are directly related to each other. Further studies are required to explore the scenario between these factors.