Pflege
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Work schedules impact significantly on the health and well-being of health care professionals. The prevailing schedules can place the care providers 'at risk both psychologically and physically as well as in their social and private sphere. The added burden of daily activities in intensive care units (ICUs) intensifies these effects. ⋯ To assess the health impact of the work schedules, a method was developed which considers the most important health relevant dimensions of the work schedules for a global estimate. Finally, the most extreme groups regarding the health impact of the working schedules were compared regarding their organizational context using non-parametric and parametric tests. The findings show that the working schedules in ICUs could be considerably improved, particularly regarding duration and density of working hours as well as regarding supportive structures of the hospitals.