Sleep analysis of hospital and out-of-hospital emergency professionals

Abstract

Introduction: Sleep deprivation is associated with poorer cognitive functioning and a greater risk of serious diseases. Herein, we analyzed differences in the quality of sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness between hospital emergency services and out-of-hospital emergencies services, and investigated its association with sociodemographic and labor variables.

Method: This is a cross-sectional observational study carried out between April 2019 and February 2020, including healthcare professionals from different emergency departments, who were evaluated through the following instruments: "Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index" and "Epworth Sleepiness Scale".

Results: Four-hundred and four healthcare professionals were included (mean age 40.4 ± 11.1 years), predominantly women (61.4%) from hospital emergency departments (62.6%). A total of 65.3% of the workers had poor sleep quality and 27.7% had excessive sleepiness. Women had poorer sleep quality (p = 0.022) and higher sleepiness (p = 0.010) than men. Hospital emergency workers presented 2-fold increased risk of poor sleep quality (OR = 1.93, p = 0.003) and sleepiness (OR = 1.93, p = 0.009) than out-of-hospital emergency workers. The more optimistic were less likely to have poor sleep quality (OR = 0.73, p = 0.01) or sleepiness (OR = 0.70, p = 0.002). Nurses, emergency medical technicians and nursing assistants also had a higher risk of poor sleep quality compared to physicians (OR = 1.60; p = 0.043).

Conclusions: Emergency healthcare professionals working in hospital emergency departments had a two-times higher risk of poor sleep quality and sleepiness than out-of-hospital emergency healthcare professionals.

Keywords: Emergencies; Excessive daytime sleepiness; Hospital emergency; Optimism; Outpatient emergencies; Sleep quality.