Differences in Stress Level between Nurses Working Two-Shift and Three-Shift Rotations

• Published in: Austin Medical Sciences Vol. 6; no. 1
• Main Authors: SJ, Yu, DD, Ma, LA, He, YJ, Cao, SS, Wang, Y, Liu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 25.05.2021
• ISSN: 2689-8454; 2689-8454
• DOI: 10.26420/austinmedsci.2021.1046

Background: Shift work has been widely documented to affect stress among nurses; however, it is not clear how different shift work schedules are associated with nurses’ levels of stress. Objective: This study aimed to compare levels of stress among Chinese nurses working on different shift work schedules by examining their salivary amylase and cortisol. Design: A cross-sectional survey design. Saliva samples were collected from nurses who had been working in two-shift modes (shift at 5pm or 8pm) or three-shift modes (shift at 11pm, 12am, or 1am) for at least one year. Data collection was conducted from March 1, 2017 to May 31, 2017. Setting: Participants were recruited from a public tertiary teaching medical center in eastern China. Participants: A total of 216 nurses were included in the final analysis, including 55 working in two-shift modes and 161 working in three-shift modes. Method: Stress level was assessed using the amylase and cortisol profiles. Logistic regression analyses for amylase and cortisol profiles were adjusted for marriage, age, working years, education background, professional title. Conclusion: Our findings suggested that nurses’ stress was contingent on night-shift schedules. Three-shift rotations may be superior than two-shift rotations in keeping nurses’ stress levels low. Nurse managers may take nurses’ potential stress levels into consideration when design work schedules.