Investigation of Disorders and Problems caused by Shift Work in Selected Nurses of Public-Educational Hospital of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, 2015

Shift work as a social phenomenon is one of the effective factors on operation of health workers which can have significant impacts on their health. Hence, the current study was conducted to determine the effect of shift working on health problems and the risk factors causing these disorders among nurses.
This cross-sectional study was carried out on 189 nurses selected randomly from Shahid Namazi and Shahid Faghihi hospitals. The data collection tool was the "Survey of Shift Worker" standard questionnaire. Data were then analyzed by SPSS 16 software using Pearson coefficient of correlation test.
The results showed that the highest prevalence of problems caused by shift work was related to individual, family, and social life disorders. Moreover, the compulsory selection of shift work system has reduced job satisfaction (p = 0.001).
Based on the findings, shift working could be associated with physical complications such as cardiovascular diseases and disturbances in circadian rhythm, as well as mental disorders in nurses. Therefore, it is necessary for nursing authorities to plan shifts more precisely regarding factors such as employee's age and job experience.