Comparison of the working memory between emergency medicine residents engaged in a 12-hour duty shift and in a 24-hour duty shift

• Main Authors: Buquid, Michel A., Yusingbo, Iami Rio Patricia A.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2010
• Subjects: Sleep deprivation; Residents (Medicine) > Health and hygiene; Shift systems > Health aspects; Residents (Medicine)—Ability testing; Biology; Medicine and Health Sciences
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/5572
• Institution: De La Salle University

Sleep deprivation is one of the most common issues arising from the extensive working hours of residency training. A long-lasting work hour with limited sleep is one of the causes for human errors - momentary failure of attention, cognitive and memory problems - to increase, which would then endanger the patient's safety and put the residents' health at risk. A series of mental tests, Stanford Sleepiness Scale and sleep questionnaire regarding their duration of sleep was utilized in this study to assess whether the performance of residents engaged in a 12-hour shift and in a 24-hour shift is affected by sleep deprivation. A total of 64 emergency medicine residents were surveyed in this research. Emergency Medicine Residents were from Makati Medical Center, St. Luke's Medical Center, Pasig City General Hospital, Ospital ng Makati and Perpetual Help Medical Center. Data from before the start of duty tests were compared with the results after the duty tests with regard to the duty shifts, 12-hour duty shift and 24-hour duty shift. The study showed that the usual nocturnal hours of sleep for the 12 and 24-hour duty shift were not different with the number of hours of sleep prior to duty but the 12 vs 24-hour duty shift were different in terms of number of hours of sleep on-duty. There was a concomitant decline in the number of hours of sleep prior to duty and during duty. The working memory performance of the 12 and 24-hour duty shift ER residents still remained similar despite the drop in the number of hours of sleep prior to duty and during duty. The ER residents working memory performance did not show any difference in both the 12 hour duty shift and the 24 hour duty shift due to the similarities in the pre-duty and usual nocturnal hours of sleep. The results collectively showed that the working memory of emergency medicine residents are not affected by shifting schedule.