2020 Volume 24 Issue 1 Pages 164-174
An online survey was conducted from January to February 2020 to study the working conditions of shift-working nurses, their willingness to continue working under their current work conditions, the conditions under which they were willing to continue shift work, to provide materials for the estimation of nursing personnel demand, and to aid in considering measures for securing shift-working nurses. Participation requests were sent to 4,601 nurses at 47 hospitals. Participants were questioned about the last shift or last month they worked. Excluding new nurses, 394 of 410 responses were analyzed. The analysis revealed on average, a shift schedule consisted of 9–10 days off and 7–8 night shifts. Most two-shift nurses had night shifts that lasted longer than 13 hours. Three-shift nurses never had night shifts that extended past 13 hours; but, they were more likely to work at intervals of <11 hours, for more than six days consecutively, and get insufficient rest after night shifts. They were also less satisfied with their schedules than two-shift nurses. Approximately 40% of the participants reported their unwillingness to continue working under their current work conditions and >50% indicated their inability to continue working for longer than three years. Three-shift nurses responded that they needed approximately 2.4 more days off per month to rest—more than approximately 1.9 days needed by two-shift nurses. For participants to continue working, they need approximately two additional days off a month and to increase the number of nurses to reduce the need for overtime work.
