The effect of deep relax inspiration-pursed lip breathing on nurse fatigue in the emergency department

Abstract

Reducing nurse fatigue is essential for providing quality and safe services. The deep relax inspiration-pursed lip breathing (DRI-PLB) technique enables increased oxygenation, resulting in a relaxation effect that ultimately lowers the fatigue level. This study determined the effect of DRI-PLB on nurse fatigue levels in this study. This was a pre-post intervention study involving 39 emergency nurses studied for 6 consecutive days. The fatigue level was subjectively measured using the work fatigue measurement questionnaire (KAUPK2) and the visual analogue fatigue scale (VAFS) and objectively measured based on light and sound reaction times. The intervention included performing 10 min of DRI-PLB in the middle of a work shift. Based on KAUPK2, a significant decrease in the fatigue rate (from 71.8% moderate-to-severe fatigue preintervention to 46.2% fatigue post-intervention, p < 0.001) was noted. Daily pre- and postintervention measurements of VAFS and reaction time for 6 days revealed significant improvements in the VAFS score and reaction times, with p < 0.001. The pattern of the work shift was not correlated with the fatigue level. DRI-PLB alleviates work fatigue. Thus, this technique can be used as an option for reducing fatigue in a busy work setting.