Page 133 - Petelin, Ana, ur. 2024. Zdravje delovno aktivnih in starejših odraslih / Health of Working-Age and Older Adults. Zbornik povzetkov z recenzijo ▪︎ Book of Abstracts. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem/University of Primorska Press

Burden of nursing employees due to shift work after the age of 50

Suzana Nikolić
Jesenice General Hospital, Jesenice, Slovenia

Introduction: Nursing employees provide care to patients continuously 24 hours a day.
Shift work disrupts the daily rhythm of the body, affects most bodily functions and al-
so the social life of employees. Legislation in the field of shift work allows nursing em-
ployees to stop working the night shift after the age of 50. The purpose of the paper is
to determine the reasons that contribute to the decision of nursing employees wheth-
er they will continue to work in the night shift after the age of 50 or not. In addition,
we want to define the impact of multi-shift work on the physical and mental health and
quality of life of nursing employees.
Methods: The research is based on the method of empirical qualitative research.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten nurses employed at the second-
ary level of health care. They previously gave verbal consent to participate in the re-
search. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and qualitatively analyzed. When
preparing the theoretical work, we relied on selected domestic and foreign literature.
Results: The majority of nursing employees are aware of the fact that they have the op-
portunity to decide whether they will continue to work in the night shift after the age
of 50. The most common reasons for stopping night shift work are the increased vol-
ume of night shift work, work organization and the impact on their health. Irregularly
scheduled shifts, night work and lack of sleep contribute to an increased risk of burn-
out, stress, accidents at work and health problems among employees.
Discussion and conclusions: One fifth of all nursing employees are nurses over 50 years
of age. Among them, 20% did not give their consent to work in the night shift. Nurs-
ing employees recognize shift work as a serious health risk factor. It can affect the
health of employees, work efficiency and safety at work, as well as the family and so-
cial life of employees. Shift work places a significant burden on nursing care providers.
Through research, we establish a connection between age and poorer physical and
mental health. Younger nurses tolerate shift work better than older ones.
Keywords: shift work, workload of nursing employees, Collective agreement for nurs-
ing employees, quality of life problemi, izzivi in priložnosti na področju zdravja ... | concerns, challenges and opportunities in the health ...

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