Sleep Quality and Related Health Problems among Shift Working Nurses at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Eastern Nepal: A Cross Sectional Study

Background: Nurses working in shift duties play a crucial role in providing 24/7 medical services in a hospital. Shift workers are known to be associated with various medical conditions and they have poor quality of sleep. Shift rotation duties also adversely affect their personal and social domain. There is paucity of literature from Nepal looking into impact of shift-work on general health and quality of sleep among the nurses.

Material and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among shift working nurses at Nobel Medical College Teaching Hospital between April-July 2017. 148 respondents were selected from different stations of the hospital. Structured pro-forma was designed which included demographic and job characteristics, satisfaction of respondents in their domestic and social domain, common symptoms of medical conditions as well as Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire.

Results: 111 (75%) of the 148 participant nurses in our study had Pittsburgh PSQI score of 5 or more indicating their poor sleep quality. The gastrointestinal symptoms of stomach upsets, nausea and stomach pain were more common symptoms followed by back pain and weight gain. There was significant correlation between GI disturbance and Back pain with PSQI scores (p<0. 01). Shift work also affected the personal, family and social relations of the nurses.

Conclusion: Shift-rotation leads to poor sleep quality among the nurses. Not only general health condition is adversely affected but family and social relations are at risk for the nurses.

Author(s): Dejina Thapa, Garima Malla and Asim KC

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