TDNet Discover

Background: Sleep deprivation is a common problem among healthcare workers, including Physician Assistants (PAs). This can lead to harmful outcomes, such as burnout and medical errors. Current research focuses on combating this by allowing nurses to take naps while on shift. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to determine if on-shift napping is beneficial for PAs that have similar shifts or work schedules as previously studied healthcare populations such as nurses in improving productivity, provider well-being, and quality of patient care. Methods: An evidence-based clinical review (EBCR) was conducted to answer the research question. Four different searches were performed using PubMed, MEDLINE Complete, Google Scholar, and the South College Library search catalog to find appropriate studies. The 3 researchers independently reviewed the studies against inclusion and exclusion criteria and selected the final studies by consensus. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Study Quality Assessment Tool was used to evaluate the quality of studies. A simple data extraction was performed for further analysis. For the data synthesis, researchers determined descriptive and thematic analysis for the evidence within the 3 selected articles. Results: The included 3 studies collectively show decreased risks of hypertension, breast cancer, generalized arm and leg pain, high BMI, cardiovascular disease, and better recovery after work. Improved psychomotor performance metrics, cognition, and alertness, fewer performance lapses, and increased vigor were also found. Lower levels of sleepiness occurred for those who napped. Naps improved personnel performance (reaction time) and acute fatigue. Conclusion: This research found that on-shift naps for healthcare workers had improved productivity, quality of care, and provider well-being in the healthcare workers. Further research v is recommended to extrapolate these effects on hospital PAs that work the same or similar shifts to the studied population.