SLEEP PATTERNS AND DAYTIME SLEEPINESS AMONG MEDICAL HEALTH WORKERS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

The irregular schedules, extended work hours, night shifts, work stress and inadequate recovery periods are all risk factors for poor sleep quality and daytime sleepiness among healthcare workers. This is a cross-sectional observation study to measure sleep quality, daytime somnolence and its relationship to medical health workers. The study was carried out for one month with 101 participants (doctors, nurses, and Paramedical staff). Only paired Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) information was available for 91 respondents. Poor sleep quality was defined as a PSQI score > 5, and excessive daytime sleepiness was defined as an ESS score > 10. Of those that answered, 58 (63.7%) had poor sleep quality and 22 (24.2%) had excessive daytime sleepiness. There was also a strong positive correlation between the PSQI and ESS scores (r = 0.325, p = 0.0016), suggesting that increased sleepiness on the day was related to decreased sleep quality. However, there was no statistical difference between the PSQI scores of the shift workers and non-shift workers (t = 0.524, p = 0.601). There was a trend towards poorer sleep quality among night-shift workers than other workers, but this was not statistically significant (t = 1.989, p = 0.074). The results show that sleep disturbances are prevalent among medical health workers and suggest that shift scheduling, recovery time, educating about sleep hygiene and implementing fatigue-risk management systems should be improved.