AUTHOR=Tang Changmin , Chen Xin , Gong Guangwen , Guan Cuiling , Liu Chaojie 

TITLE=Self-reported work-related accumulative fatigue of nurses: A cross-sectional study in public hospitals in China

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1019092

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.1019092

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objectives</title><p>Work-related fatigue is a serious safety risk to nurses and their patients. This study aimed to assess self-reported work-related accumulative fatigue of nurses and its associated factors.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>A questionnaire survey of 2,918 clinical nurses conveniently sampled from 48 public hospitals across six provinces in China was conducted. The “<italic>Self-diagnosis Checklist for Assessment of Workers' Accumulated Fatigue</italic>” was adopted to assess the level of work-related accumulative fatigue of the study participants. Chi-square tests and ordinal regression analyses were performed to determine the sociodemographic characteristics associated with work-related accumulative fatigue.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>About one third of respondents reported low work-related accumulative fatigue, compared with 23.1% reporting high and 24.6% reporting very high levels of work-related accumulative fatigue. Higher levels of work-related accumulative fatigue were associated with female gender (AOR = 0.614 for male relative to female, <italic>p</italic> = 0.005), age between 30 and 40 years (AOR = 1.346 relative to &gt;40 years, <italic>p</italic> = 0.034), 5–10 years of work experience (AOR = 1.277 relative to &gt;10 years, <italic>p</italic> = 0.034), and bachelor or above degree qualifications (AOR = 0.806 for associate degree relative to bachelor or above degree, <italic>p</italic> = 0.007). Those who worked in rural county hospitals (AOR = 0.816 for metropolitan relative to rural county hospitals, <italic>p</italic> = 0.006) and resided in central China (AOR = 1.276 relative to western China, <italic>p</italic> = 0.004) had higher odds of reporting higher levels of work-related accumulative fatigue.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>High levels of work-related accumulative fatigue are evident in nurses of public hospitals in China. The problem is more serious in the female nurses in their mid-career and those who worked in the central region and rural setting.</p></sec>