Miki Ishizuka*, Shin-ichiro Katsuda and Akihiro Hazama
Purpose: Fatigue or stress in the workplace is a serious problem. The purpose of this study is, in order to understand characteristics of fatigue and stress, to assess the correlation between the physiological and psychological fatigue of healthy nurses during normal work.
Methods: 51 healthy nurses and 24 controls were recruited. Participants were randomly allocated two groups: the new nursing worker (NNW) group with less than 3 years of working (n=25) and the expert nursing workers (ENW) group with more than 3 years of working (n=26). We examined nurses’ physiology: Acceleration Plethysmography (APG) and Blood Pressure (BP) and psychology: Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Mood Inventory Scale (MIS) before and after a normal workday.
Results: The VAS increased significantly, in all groups. In the NNW group, we observed that LF/HF ratio, Low frequency (LF), and BP increased significantly as compared to ENW group and the controls. In the ENW group, HF decreased slightly and DBP decreased significantly. The autonomic activity correlated significantly with the MIS for all nurses.
Conclusion: Nursing workers were characterized by increased sympathetic components in the NNW group and decreased parasympathetic components in the ENW group. These findings may help nurses and other workers reduce fatigue, cope with stress, and prevent illness. Physiological indicators may provide an objective assessment of nurse fatigue, and the MIS test may alternative for physiological tests to detect fatigue more quickly and easily. We hope this study will contribute towards addressing the issues related to workers’ mental health in the workplace.
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