American journal of industrial medicine
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Observational Study
Impact of shift duration on alertness among air-medical emergency care clinician shift workers.
Greater than half of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) shift workers report fatigue at work and most work long duration shifts. We sought to compare the alertness level of EMS shift workers by shift duration. ⋯ Deficits in performance in the air-medical setting may be greatest during night shifts and proximal to waking from an intra-shift nap. Future research should examine alertness and performance throughout air-medical shifts, as well as investigate the timing and duration of intra-shift naps on outcomes.