Occupational medicine
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Occupational medicine · Dec 2004
The impact of shift work on the risk and severity of injuries for hospital employees: an analysis using Oregon workers' compensation data.
While past research on health care workers has found that shift work can lead to negative physiological and psychological consequences, few studies have assessed the extent to which it increases the risk of specific work-related injuries, nor quantified and compared associated types, severity and costs. ⋯ Evening and night shift hospital employees were found to be at greater risk of sustaining an occupational injury than day shift workers, with those on the night shift reporting injuries of the greatest severity as measured by disability leave. Staffing levels and task differences between shifts may also affect injury risk.