engleski

SLEEP HABITS OF MEDICAL STUDENTS, NURSES AND PHYSICIANS, REGARDING AGE, SEX, SHIFT WORK AND CAFFEINE CONSUMPTION

Introduction. Proper sleep habits are related to good night sleep and substantial in allowing adequate daytime functioning. It is well known that sleep habits are different between individuals and depend on age, gender, and professional occupation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sleep habits of medical students, nurses, and physicians, as well as to explore whether they are influenced by age, sex, shift work, and caffeine consumption. Methods. A total of 453 respondents were surveyed. The questionnaire was composed of ten questions that tend to assess the sleep habits derived from the ASKME Survey. The respondents were divided into four groups: 1) second-year medical students (130 or 29%) ; 2) physicians at the postgraduate study program (68 or 15%) ; 3) specialists in different fields of medicine (162 or 36%) ; and 4) nurses (93 or 21%). Results. Sleep quality and feeling rested was clearly related to age. As expected, younger respondents needed longer sleep to feel rested than older ones (c2=12.105 , p=0.017). Furthermore, needed sleep for feeling rested was related to sex, since female respondents needed more hours than male respondents, (c2=12.637 p=0.013). There was a significant difference in needed sleep between nurses and physicians, with nurses needing more sleep than physicians (c2=38.571 , p<0.001). Also, when sex difference was excluded, female nurses still needed more sleep for feeling rested than female physicians (c2=18.177, p<0.001). Female nurses also sleep longer than female physicians during weekdays (c2=33.783, p<0.001) and on weekends (c2=28.064, p<0.001). The respondents that consume caffeine have more trouble staying awake while listening lectures or learning (c2=9.37, p=0.009), and while driving a car (c2=14.562, p=0.001). Conclusion. Sleep habits depend on age, sex, and caffeine consumption. Responses to the survey indicate that older people need less sleep than younger, and women in general need more sleep than men. The data also suggest that nurses need more sleep than physicians. Caffeine consumption appears to be related to sleep habits since those respondents who consume caffeine experience greater tendency of falling a sleep during lectures or while driving a car.

sleep habits; survey; medical students; physicians; nurses

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