Impact of Night Shifts on Cognitive Performance

In a recent study, researchers examined the impact of night shifts on the cognitive performance of healthcare workers. The study found that nurses who worked night shifts reported experiencing higher levels of fatigue and made significantly more errors in patient medication administration than their day-shift counterparts. Additionally, the researchers noted that the incidence of errors increased even more for nurses who had worked consecutive night shifts without a break.

Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that rotating healthcare workers between night and day shifts could improve patient safety by reducing the number of medication errors. They recommended implementing a rotational schedule that includes regular breaks for night-shift workers where possible.