Is There a Relationship Between Night Shift and Errors? What Nurse Leaders Need to Know

The aim of this systematic review was to examine the evidence regarding nurse night shift errors. Night shift work has historically been associated with circadian rhythm changes, health risks, and even emotional effects. An electronic literature search for "night shift nurse errors" was conducted using Pubmed, CINAHL, Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition, and Cochrane Collection Plus databases. Inclusion criteria was English language, full text available, and published dates between May 1, 2005 and May 1, 2015. Ten studies were selected for analysis based on the inclusion criteria. The quality of the studies and the level of evidence were categorized based on Johns Hopkins Strength of Evidence Hierarchy. The error rate on night shift was consistently higher than the day shift rates. Nursing factors related to the occurrence of both near misses and adverse events included fewer years of experience, increased frequency of night shifts, internal ward assignments and experiencing time pressure.