The impact of night shift working hours restrictions on health, safety, and leisure activities of hospital nurses

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K12205
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Fundamental nursing
• Research Institution: National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health,Japan
• Principal Investigator: Matsumoto Shun 独立行政法人労働者健康安全機構労働安全衛生総合研究所, 産業保健研究グループ, 研究員 (20342686)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 夜勤時間制限 / 看護労働 / 交代勤務 / 安全 / 健康 / 生活の質

Outline of Final Research Achievements

There is a rule that the night shift working hours per month should be 72 hours or less to reduce the burden on hospital nurses who work night shift. However, the impact of night shift working hours restrictions has not been clarified. The effects of night shift working hours exceeding 72 hours on the safety, health, and leisure activities of hospital nurses were investigated by a two-week time budget and fatigue survey. As a result, safety, health, and leisure activities were all adversely affected by over 72 hours night shifts. In the safety index, the number of times of sleepiness on holidays increased, in the health index, the number of complaints about difficulty concentrating and physical discomfort among subjective fatigue feelings increased, and in the life activities index, leisure activities on holidays decreased.

Free Research Field

産業保健

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

看護師の72時間を超える夜勤は、安全、健康、生活に大きな影響を及ぼすまでには至らなかったものの、夜勤時間の制限が妥当であることの科学的根拠となる知見が得られた。夜勤時間の72時間ルールの緩和は看護師自身への悪影響にとどまらず、間接的に患者の安全を損なう可能性が示唆されたと言える。