Shift nurse in implementing shift work schedules and fatigue: A phenomenological study

Abstract

Nurses who work shifts are professionals, but we don't know much about the conditions and feelings of nurses after becoming nurses. The purpose of the research was to explore the experience of being a shift nurse in implementing shift work schedules and fatigue. Method: The research used a qualitative design with phenomenological approach. The research was conducted in two hospitals used purposive sampling techniques according to predetermined inclusion criteria. The participants were 19 nurses and conducted in-depth interviews . The collected data was subjected to thematic analysis. Results: There were five themes obtained from this research including 1) Shift nurses experience work fatigue which causes their career development opportunities to be reduced; 2) Accompanying doctor visits, workload, number and condition of patients, extended working time due to handovers are the causes of shift nurse fatigue; 3) Nurses experience the risk of SWD and the risk of making human errors while on duty; 4) Changing nurse service schedules and non-ideal service patterns managed by the head of the room risk reducing satisfaction with the service schedule; 5) Shift nurse job satisfaction tends to be low but nurses remain responsible and prioritize working professionally. Conclusion: This research can be concluded that nurses have unique experiences in managing nurse schedule and the impact of fatigue from working as a shift nurse. Nurses are expected to be able to understand which conditions constitute tiring work, and if it is not the nurse's main duties and responsibilities, they can report it to their superiors.