Psychosocial impact of shift work on female nurses

Abstract

Women are the backbone of any economy primarily shaping future of country. Shift work and workrelated stress are important topics in the healthcare sector due to their possible negative impact on the workers’ health and safety. The study was taken to study the problems faced by the nurses in shift work The Objective of the study was 1. To explore problems related to shift work faced by female nurses. 2. To study the impact of shift work on female nurses the present study was conducted in Maharana Bhopal Government Hospital at Udaipur. The sample consisted of 60 female nurses between the age group of 30 -60 years, working in flexible rotating shifts. A standardized tool was used for the present study. The standard shift work index (SSI) by Emeritus Simon Folkard et al. (1995) was used to elicit required data from each respondents showed that majority (86.6) of old respondents worked in rotating shifts with nights, while from young group only 60 per cent worked in rotating shifts with nights The option of swooping shifts with colleagues was a very good option perceived by them. Disadvantages weighed more than advantages in shift work. Higher per cent of young respondents were more ready for quitting shift job for day time job. We can thus conclude that nurse’s family encountered many problems as a result of unpredictability of their shift assignments. The nurses face many problems related to sleep, wellbeing and social and cultural related to personal and family setup.