Nurses’ experiences and preferences around shift patterns: A scoping review

Objective To explore the evidence on nurses’ experiences and preferences around shift patterns in the international literature. Data sources Electronic databases (CINHAL, MEDLINE and Scopus) were searched to identify primary studies up to April 2021. Methods Papers reporting qualitative or quantitative studies exploring the subjective experience and/or preferences of nurses around shift patterns were considered, with no restrictions on methods, date or setting. Key study features were extracted including setting, design and results. Findings were organised thematically by key features of shift work. Results 30 relevant papers were published between 1993 and 2021. They contained mostly qualitative studies where nurses reflected on their experience and preferences around shift patterns. The studies reported on three major aspects of shift work: shift work per se (i.e. the mere fact of working shift), shift length, and time of shift. Across all three aspects of shift work, nurses strive to deliver high quality of care despite facing intense working conditions, experiencing physical and mental fatigue or exhaustion. Preference for or adaptation to a specific shift pattern is facilitated when nurses are consulted before its implementation or have a certain autonomy to self-roster. Days off work tend to mitigate the adverse effects of working (short, long, early or night) shifts. How shift work and patterns impact on experiences and preferences seems to also vary according to nurses’ personal characteristics and circumstances (e.g. age, caring responsibilities, years of experience). Conclusions Shift patterns are often organised in ways that are detrimental to nurses’ health and wellbeing, their job performance, and the patient care they provide. Further research should explore the extent to which nurses’ preferences are considered when choosing or being imposed shift work patterns. Research should also strive to better describe and address the constraints nurses face when it comes to choice around shift patterns.

Research of Safe Technology of Impregnation of Heated Reinforcing Materials with Binder

Prepreg manufacturing process is one of the most important preparatory technological processes, quality of which has the decisive influence on the physical, mechanical, processing and operational characteristics of the finished composite product. However, manufacturing of prepregs is associated with a number of harmful factors, negatively affecting the participants in the technological process and the environment. Consequently, significant additional costs are required in order to ensure specified maximum permissible levels and concentrations of the harmful products released by the components of polymeric composite materials in the product manufacturing process. The paper deals with the study of peculiarities and efficiency of impregnation of the heated reinforcing material using solvent-free binder. The method for predicting the optimal process parameters of binder solutions for impregnation of prepregs, taking into account the safety of production activity, has been developed. The problem of thermal conductivity from the heated reinforcing material to the binder, which allowed establishing the law of temperature distribution over the depth of the impregnating bath, depending on the duration of continuous impregnation, has been solved. It is found that the binder, with the duration of impregnation even within one working shift, heats up to the temperatures excluding the formation of centers of exothermic polymerization reaction in it. It indicates the availability of the effective regimes of impregnation using the method under study. The paper proposes the practical ways of improvement of the investigated method of impregnation by varying the wavelength, programmed change of the temperature of the reinforcing material at the entry to the bath, and setting of the optimal coordinates of the binder supply as it is drawn in the process of continuous impregnation of the reinforcing material.

Observational study on healthcare workers protection in the angiographic suite during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: before and during vax era

Background: Since the first case of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Italy, all the hospital facilities had to reform their daily activities. Amidst them, the Interventional Radiology Department in the “Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria” of Novara (Italy) had to create a dedicated protocol for the patent’s management during the pandemic.Design and Methods: The time interval between February 2020 and March 2021 was divided into three different periods and we reported the evolution of our safety protocol, the changes in our daily activities and the rates of Sars-CoV-2 infection among the healthcare workers (HCW) of the Angiographic Suite. Personnel who had positive partners/family members or who had established close contacts of another nature outside the workplace were excluded from the study, in order to reduce any bias.Results: A total of 35 HCWs served in 355 patient procedures on Sars-CoV-2 positive patients from February 2020 to March 2021. During the year there was a reduction in the morbidity rate first from 7.9% to 1.4% and then currently reaching 0%.Conclusions: Dedicated routes, elevators, establishing Filter Areas and a clear demarcation between clean and contaminated areas, Dressing and undressing procedures, Cleaning procedures and the obligation to always wear a surgical mask during the working shift are essential to prevent in-hospital infection. The vaccines’ arrival seems to further reduce the risk for healthcare workers, but it is still necessary to take docile precautions in view of the new mutations of the virus.

Work Shift, Lifestyle Factors, and Subclinical Atherosclerosis in Spanish Male Workers: A Mediation Analysis

(1) Background: Working night shifts has been associated with altered circadian rhythms, lifestyle habits, and cardiometabolic risks. No information on the potential association of working shift and the presence of atherosclerosis is available. The aim of this study was to quantify the association between different work shifts and the presence of subclinical atherosclerosis objectively measured by imaging. (2) Methods: Analyses were conducted on the baseline data of the Aragon Workers Health Study (AWHS) cohort, including information on 2459 middle-aged men. Categories of shift work included central day shift, rotating morning-evening or morning-evening-night shift, and night shift. The presence of atherosclerotic plaques was assessed by 2D ultrasound in the carotid and femoral vascular territories. Multivariable logistic models and mediation analysis were conducted to characterize and quantify the association between study variables. (3) Results: Participants working night or rotating shifts presented an overall worse cardiometabolic risk profile, as well as more detrimental lifestyle habits. Workers in the most intense (morning-evening-night) rotating shift presented higher odds of subclinical atherosclerosis (odds ratio: 1.6; 95% confidence interval: 1.12 to 2.27) compared to workers in the central shift, independently of the presence of lifestyle and metabolic risk factors. A considerable (21%) proportion of this association was found to be mediated by smoking, indicating that altered sleep-wake cycles have a direct relationship with the early presence of atherosclerotic lesions. (4) Conclusions: Work shifts should be factored in during workers health examinations, and when developing effective workplace wellness programs.

Physiological criteria for improving labor intensity classification used in occupational risks assessment

The paper focuses on results of substantiating and selecting informative physiological criteria that can be used for assessing and controlling functional state and working conditions category taking into account physical and nervous-emotional loads borne by CNC- machinery operators. Basing on complex physiological and ergonomic studies and retrospective data analysis, we showed that workers from various occupational groups who dealt with physical labor had to face certain strain over a working shift. Such strains, given long-term working experience, could result in neuromuscular system overstrain and occupational diseases occurrence. We substantiated and developed informative physiological criteria that allowed assessing and controlling functional state and working capacity as well as working conditions category taking into account occupational activities. The present research involved using a set of occupational studies, physiological and ergonomic procedures as well as clinical and statistic ones for examining peculiarities related to functional state of workers’ bodies under exposure to occupational factors taking into account specific working tasks and loads. It allowed us to substantiate labor intensity assessment. Our research results revealed that there was a strong correlation between hand muscles endurance to static exertion (decrease in % by the end of a work shift) and working conditions category given local and overall muscular loads borne by workers. This criterion is recommended for control over functional state and working capacity taking into account occupational peculiarities and gender-related differences. It is necessary to accumulate scientific data for confirming a similar correlation between overall physical working capacity (OPWC) and working conditions category. Results obtained via physiological research were used for developing prevention activities for workers.

Physiological criteria for improving labor intensity classification used in occupational risks assessment

The paper focuses on results of substantiating and selecting informative physiological criteria that can be used for assessing and controlling functional state and working conditions category taking into account physical and nervous-emotional loads borne by CNC- machinery operators. Basing on complex physiological and ergonomic studies and retrospective data analysis, we showed that workers from various occupational groups who dealt with physical labor had to face certain strain over a working shift. Such strains, given long-term working experience, could result in neuromuscular system overstrain and occupational diseases occurrence. We substantiated and developed informative physiological criteria that allowed assessing and controlling functional state and working capacity as well as working conditions category taking into account occupational activities. The present research involved using a set of occupational studies, physiological and ergonomic procedures as well as clinical and statistic ones for examining peculiarities related to functional state of workers’ bodies under exposure to occupational factors taking into account specific working tasks and loads. It allowed us to substantiate labor intensity assessment. Our research results revealed that there was a strong correlation between hand muscles endurance to static exertion (decrease in % by the end of a work shift) and working conditions category given local and overall muscular loads borne by workers. This criterion is recommended for control over functional state and working capacity taking into account occupational peculiarities and gender-related differences. It is necessary to accumulate scientific data for confirming a similar correlation between overall physical working capacity (OPWC) and working conditions category. Results obtained via physiological research were used for developing prevention activities for workers.

COVID 19 PANDEMIC: IMPLICATIONS ON HRM AND SUSTAINABILITY IN THE NEW NORMAL

Organizations productivity all over the globe witnessed a dramatic change occasioned bycoronavirus pandemic which has affected HRM and sustainability of organizations. The study main objective was to heighten the relevance of dynamismin human resource management in the Covid-19 pandemic business environment. The survey research design was employed in the study through the aid of electronic questionnaire and the data was analyzed using SPSS (v25), Excel and Minitab 17. The findings of the study showed that to a greater extent, the performance of employees was not much affected by the pandemic as organizations maintained regular working shift in the early breakout of the virus in Nigeria. The study found that the pandemic altered the usual working modalities of organizations and orchestrated the utilization of e-working. On the performance of employees, work-life balance experience and HRs welfare rating, the study found mixed reactions from HR managers and employees indicating satisfactory and unsatisfactory experience. The pandemic crisis has caused several lingering challenges in the business world which requires a dynamic and strategic approach by HR managers to salvage in other to sustain the organizations and maintain the employees. However, the study recommends a more robust HR to develop employees’ skills, especially in information technology. The study also recommends a better incentive plan for employees’ and also adequate provision of protective gear at the work environment.