Work schedule characteristics and occupational fatigue/recovery among rotating-shift nurses: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Aims: To determine the effects of work schedule characteristics on occupational fatigue and recovery among rotating-shift nurses in South Korea.

Background: Understanding the effects of work schedule characteristics on occupational fatigue is important to prevent adverse nurse outcomes and to ensure patient safety.

Methods: This study used secondary data analysis with a cross-sectional design. Data were collected on 436 rotating-shift nurses in 2018. Nurses' occupational fatigue and recovery were measured using the Occupational Fatigue Exhaustion/Recovery Scale. We used quantile regression models.

Results: The scores for acute and chronic fatigue and intershift recovery were 70.40, 73.39, and 29.82, respectively. Overtime hours, number of night shifts, number of consecutive days off, and breaks were significant influential factors in some quantiles of acute fatigue, chronic fatigue, and intershift recovery, while total working hours was only associated with chronic fatigue in the 25th quantile.

Conclusions: The quantile and linear regression models revealed different results for work schedule factors that affect occupational fatigue and intershift recovery among rotating-shift nurses.

Implication for nursing management: These findings have important implications for developing targeted strategies and policies to reduce occupational fatigue and improve intershift recovery for rotating-shift nurses with different levels of occupational fatigue and recovery.

Keywords: fatigue; nurses; recovery; shift-work schedules.