Need for cognition moderates the impairment of decision making caused by nightshift work in nurses

Abstract

The current study explores the effect of nightshift work on the decision-making competence and performance of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and analyzes whether individual differences in the need for cognition (NFC) can moderate this effect. A total of 107 female nurses were recruited to complete the decision-making competence scale and IGT at two times, after a night shift and after a day shift. The results revealed that the IGT scores and decision-making competence of nurses after nightshift work significantly declined, and also that the decrease in decision-making competence was related to the nurses’ performance of the IGT. Additionally, the decreasing degree of IGT and decision-making competence scores of the high-NFC group were significantly lower than those of the low-NFC group after nightshift work. In can be concluded that the decrease in decision-making competence which was related with poor decision-making due to nightshift work. NFC moderated the effect of nightshift work on decision-making.

The effects of work on cognitive functions: a systematic review

“…Among 64 studies included in the systematic review, 39 were related to the effect of shift work on cognitive functions ( Table 4 ) ( Deary and Tait, 1987 ; Orton and Gruzelier, 1989 ; Lingenfelser et al, 1994 ; Smith et al, 1995 ; Petru et al, 2005 ; Rouch et al, 2005 ; Saricaoğlu et al, 2005 ; Griffiths et al, 2006 ; Chang et al, 2011 , 2013a , b ; Anderson et al, 2012 ; Shwetha and Sudhakar, 2012 , 2014 ; Niu et al, 2013 ; Özdemir et al, 2013 ; Veddeng et al, 2014 ; Kazemi et al, 2016 , 2018 ; Maltese et al, 2016 ; Titova et al, 2016 ; Vajravelu et al, 2016 ; Haidarimoghadam et al, 2017 ; Soares and de Almondes, 2017 ; Williams et al, 2017 ; Persico et al, 2018 ; Taylor et al, 2019 ; Abdelhamid et al, 2020 ; Adams and Venter, 2020 ; Athar et al, 2020 ; James et al, 2021 ; Prasad et al, 2021 ; Stout et al, 2021 ; Sun et al, 2021 ; Zhao et al, 2021 ; An et al, 2022 ; Benítez-Provedo et al, 2022 ; Esmaily et al, 2022 ; Peng et al, 2022 ).…”

“… Özdemir et al (2013) analysed the effects of shift work on health care workers’ memory, attention, and learning, finding a significantly poorer cognitive performance after night shift, particularly for working memory. Peng et al (2022) noted a decrease in decision making competence due to night shift among nurses. Persico et al (2018) evaluated cognitive performance of emergency physician after a night shift of 14 h or 24 h compared with a rest night at home and found a significant alteration of cognitive abilities after a 24-h shift but not after a 14-h shift.…”

“…Many studies focused their attention on the negative effects of shift work on circadian rhythm ( Schettini et al, 2023 ) and consequently on sleep and cognitive functions. Particularly, most studies highlighted detrimental effects: such among healthcare workers, medical professionals, as anaesthesiologists had a decline in reaction time, problem-solving, attention, and mental flexibility after night shift ( Saricaoğlu et al, 2005 ; Griffiths et al, 2006 ; Williams et al, 2017 ; Abdelhamid et al, 2020 ; Adams and Venter, 2020 ; Prasad et al, 2021 ), nurses had affected reaction time, motor ability, attention, cognitive flexibility, working memory, and decision making after work shift ( Chang et al, 2011 , 2013a , b ; Niu et al, 2013 ; James et al, 2021 ; Sun et al, 2021 ; An et al, 2022 ; Esmaily et al, 2022 ; Peng et al, 2022 ), other categories of physicians(intensivists, emergency doctors, gynaecologists, junior doctors, hospital doctors, medical house officers, postgraduate year one physicians) had a deficit in attention, executive function, memory, motor function, and reaction time after night shift ( Deary and Tait, 1987 ; Orton and Gruzelier, 1989 ; Lingenfelser et al, 1994 ; Anderson et al, 2012 ; Özdemir et al, 2013 ; Veddeng et al, 2014 ; Maltese et al, 2016 ; Persico et al, 2018 ; Benítez-Provedo et al, 2022 ). Other workers, such as security staff ( Vajravelu et al, 2016 ; Athar et al, 2020 ), control room operators ( Kazemi et al, 2016 , 2018 ; Haidarimoghadam et al, 2017 ), business process outsourcing employees ( Shwetha and Sudhakar, 2012 , 2014 ), power plant workers ( Smith et al, 1995 ), petrochemical workers ( Soares and de Almondes, 2017 ), firefighters ( Stout et al, 2021 ), police employees ( Taylor et al, 2019 ), miners ( Zhao et al, 2021 ), and generic groups of workers ( Rouch et al, 2005 ; Titova et al, 2016 ) had an impairment in one or more cognitive functions.…”

Construction of a competency index system for shift nurses in China: A Delphi study

“…Because of less staff on night shifts, night shift nurses are responsible for the treatment, nursing, and management of patients in the ward. Although shift work is necessary for the nursing occupation, it reduces nurses' cognition and decision‐making (Dall'Ora et al, 2022 ; Peng et al, 2022 ) by affecting their sleep quality, thereby indirectly influencing patient safety(Westwell et al, 2021 ). Throughout the shift, nurses undertake multiple onerous tasks, including patient care and equipment operation.…”