A comparison of early versus late nap times during the night shift regarding the psychomotor performance required for safe driving: A pilot study

Abstract

Background: Sleep deprivation leads to fatigue and sleepiness among health care workers and can result in road traffic collisions (RTC) after their shift. Planned napping is one of the main solutions proposed to avoid this problem. Objectives: The present study aimed at assessing the effect of two nap times during the night shift on psychomotor driving skills among night shift nurses. Methods: A cohort study was conducted on 19 night shift nurses. The nurses completed the eight tests of the validated traffic psychological assessment battery of Vienna test system (VTS) before the night shift at 6 PM, and they repeated the same set of tests after the night shift at 7 AM. Data were compared based on nap times (00:00 - 03:00 AM versus 03:00 - 06:00 AM), which were chosen by the night shift nurses. Results: Nurses aged 23 to 36 years old participated in this study. Their driving experience was 6.1 - 3.4 years, and 34% reported RTCs in the previous year. The nurses who chose to take naps from 00:00 to 03:00 showed a significantly improved time-movement anticipation ability in driving compared to those who napped from 03:00 AM to 06:00 AM (P value = 0.005). Conclusions: With respect to the time-movement anticipation test, napping during 00:00 to 03:00 AM provided better results compared to napping at 03:00 to 06:00 AM. Anticipation is a highly important psychomotor ability for safe driving.