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Updated: Apr 27, 2026

Collecting Sleep, Circadian, Fatigue, and Performance Data in Complex Operational Environments
Published on: August 8, 2019
Impact of work schedules on sleep duration of critical care nurses
A J Hirsch Allen1, Julie E Park1, Nassim Adhami1
1A. J. Hirsch Allen is a doctoral student at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia. Julie E. Park is a statistician at the Center for Health Evaluation and Outcomes Sciences, St Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia. Nassim Adhami is a nurse at St Paul's Hospital. Demetrios Sirounis is a critical care physician in the Division of Critical Care Medicine, Providence Health Care and University of British Columbia. Harriet Tholin is a patient services manager in the intensive care unit, Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia. Peter Dodek is a professor at the Center for Health Evaluation and Outcomes Sciences, St Paul's Hospital, and a physician in the Division of Critical Care Medicine, Providence Health Care and University of British Columbia. Ann E. Rogers is a professor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. Najib Ayas Najib Ayas is a staff member at Vancouver General Hospital and Providence Health Care, and an associate professor and head of the Division of Critical Care Medicine, University of British Columbia.
Background:
Sleep deprivation leads to reduced vigilance and potentially impairs work performance. Nurses may work long shifts that may contribute to sleep deprivation.
Objective:
To assess how nurses' sleep patterns are affected by work schedules and other factors.
Methods:
Between October 2009 and June 2010, a total of 20 critical care nurses completed daily sleep and activity logs and a demographic survey and wore an actigraph to objectively measure sleep time for 14 days.
Results:
In a multivariate model with controls for repeated measures, mean sleep time between consecutive work shifts was short: 6.79 hours between 2 day shifts and 5.68 hours between 2 night shifts (P = .01). Sleep time was much greater between days when no shifts were worked (8.53 hours), consistent with catch-up sleep during these times. Every minute of 1-way commuting time was associated with a reduction of sleep time by 0.84 minutes.
Conclusion:
Critical care nurses obtain reduced amounts of sleep between consecutive work shifts, particularly between consecutive night shifts. Whether this degree of sleep deprivation adversely affects patients' safety needs further study.
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