Strategies to Improve Sleep During Extended Search andRescue Operations

Abstract

Objective. This study investigated strategies to improve sleeping conditions during search andrescue operations during disaster response. Methods. Forty members of the Montgomery County (Maryland) Urban Search andRescue Team were surveyed for individual sleep habits andsleeping aids used during extended deployments. Team members were also asked to suggest methods to improve sleep on future deployments. Results. The average amount of sleep during field operations was 5.4 hours with a range of 4–8 hours. Eight percent surveyed would prefer another schedule besides the 12-hour work day, all of whom proposed three 8-hour shifts. Fifteen percent of participants were interested in a pharmacological sleeping aid. Fifty percent of search andrescue members interviewed would consider using nonpharmacological sleeping aids. Furthermore, 40% of participants stated they had successfully devised self-employed methods of sleep aids for previous deployments, such as ear plugs, massage, mental imagery, personal routines, music andheadphones, reading, andblindfolds. Conclusions. This study suggests that availability of both pharmacological andnonpharmacological sleeping aids to search andrescue workers via the team cache could impact the quantity of sleep. Further investigation into methods of optimizing sleep during field missions could theoretically show enhanced performance through various aspects of missions including mitigation of errors, improved productivity, andimproved overall physiological andemotional well-being of search andrescue personnel.