Introduction
Intensive care units are the units that provide uninterrupted health
services for the treatment of critically ill patients. Although the
indications for hospitalization in intensive care units include
departmental and diagnostic differences, the criticality of the
patient’s condition is considered a general-accepted reason for
hospitalization. The general international rule is that qualified and
certified healthcare professionals should work in intensive care units.
In this regard, our country and many other countries provide in-service
trainings and try to increase the number of qualified health personnel.
Mortality rates in intensive care units are higher than in other
clinics. Studies have found different mortality rates, ranging from 8 to
30%1–3. Common causes of mortality include
respiratory diseases, coronary heart diseases, infectious causes, and
cerebrovascular diseases1,4. There are studies
reporting higher rates of mortality in intensive care units in the
night-shift and at the weekend shifts compared to the weekday
day-shift5–8. In these studies, the leading causes of
mortality included insufficient number of healthcare professionals,
difficult access to invasive procedures, and the presence of cases with
high mortality rates, etc.
There are studies in the literature reporting that the level of
attention decreases in night shifts. In a study, Yıldız et
al9revealed lower scores of the visual attention test
for women working in the night-shift compared to those working in the
day-shift. In another study, Osterode et al. found a decrease in
cognitive functions in the night-shift in the visual memory test applied
to physicians.
In health care services in our country, the night-shift usually starts
from the end of the day-shift at 16.00 and continues until the beginning
of the day-shift at 08.00. In case of insufficient number of healthcare
professionals, the duration of the shift can be extended up to 24 hours.
For healthcare professionals working in the Intensive Care Units at the
Gazi Yaşargil Training and Research Hospital, which is the center of our
research, the night-shift covers sixteen hours from 16.00 to 08.00 on
the next day. The day shift group was selected from nurses working in
the day shift for the past month. Thus, it was aimed to exclude the
possibility of shift-related deterioration in sleep rhythm and hormonal
balance in day-shift workers.