Nurse Fatigue Poll

[labrat2nurse]

I am senior in nursing school, and I am working on a capstone project that is part of my curriculum. The assignment is to take a current management issue in the nursing field, propose an intervention to address the issue, and a managerial/leadership style to make it happen. I have chosen nurse fatigue as my topic. The ANA recognizes nurse fatigue as a major concern in the profession, and put forth a position statement that advocates limiting nurses' hours to 12 h/day, 40 h/wk (http://nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/WorkplaceSafety/Healthy-Work-Environment/Work-Environment/NurseFatigue/Addressing-Nurse-Fatigue-ANA-Position-Statement.pdf). I am not advocating this position; I am merely pointing it out to show that the profession, as represented by the ANA, has developed a policy to address the issue.

The reason I am posting this content is that I would like to get a feeling for what the pros in the nursing field believe are major contributors to nurse fatigue in the workplace. Know that I regard this as an unscientific polling, and I am NOT looking for quotes for my paper. My questions are:

Have you ever begun a shift feeling fatigued?

If so, what do you feel is/are major contributors to the fatigue?

If you have ever felt fatigue during a shift, what at the workplace would you change to reduce the incidence of fatigue?

I thank you now for your responses.