Assessment of sleep quality and its impact on occupational performance among night shift workers

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Sleep is vital for every human being, for the maintenance of functional capacity. Night-shift work interferes with normal sleep-wake rhythms and can impair alertness, sleep quality and job efficiency. There is a need for 24-hour availability of staff in healthcare services. Achieving a good quality of sleep is rather challenging for night shift workers. Therefore, understanding the effect of night-shift work on sleep quality and occupational performance is crucial for preserving the well-being and safety of both workers and patients. Aim: The aim of this research paper is to assess the aspects of sleep quality and its impact on night shift workers’ work performance, primarily healthcare workers. To explore the impact on the human body and its essentiality for every living human being, independently of what work they do. Material and methods: In this literature review, sources have been carefully selected, including books, articles, studies: randomized cross-sectional, observational field, prospective from databases NCBI, Scopus, Google Scholar and published literature from the Swedish national library. Keywords used such as "sleep quality", "sleep assessment", "night shift workers”, “shift work", “health care workers”, “hospital personnel” "occupational performance", "work productivity", "sleep disorders", "sleep deprivation", "circadian rhythm disruption", "cognitive performance" and "occupational hazards". Results: Consistent reports of poor sleep quality, greater daytime sleepiness, more medical errors are made by night-shift workers compared with day-shift workers. Evident results from objective tests strengthen these results. Chronic comorbidities are highly associated with long-term night work. Conclusion: Sleep quality and occupational performance are impaired by night-shift work, increasing risks for reduced efficiency and errors. Although there is existing research about the issues of sleep quality’s impact on occupational performance, there is a need for more in-depth, long-term studies to further assess the issues concerning the subject.