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NIOSH Training for Nurses on Shift Work and Long Work Hours
Action Steps for Nurse Managers
As a nurse manager, you have learned from this training many strategies you can adopt to promote a positive work experience for your staff on shift work or with long hours.
Key Message: Make your staff nurses’ sleep a priority. The hospital and patients will greatly benefit from alert, well-rested staff nurses.
Develop policies that promote alertness of staff by protecting their rest days, and avoid policies that encourage excessive overtime.
Schedule meetings and in-services or other means of communication for night and evening workers at times that will not interfere with their optimal sleep times.
Promote meal breaks and rest breaks during the shift. Remember that rest breaks reduce fatigue and the risk for accidents and errors.
Recognizing that naps at work can increase alertness, organize a task force in your institution to investigate implementing a napping program during shift breaks.
