Interventions to reduce task load for emergency medical workers and other shift workers
Citation: Studnek JR, Infinger AE, Renn ML, et al. Effect of task load interventions on fatigue in Emergency Medical Services personnel and other shift workers: a systematic review. Prehospital Emergency Care. 2018 Feb 15;22(sup1):81-8.
What is this? The COVID-19 pandemic is placing a strain on healthcare workers. Existing research on interventions to reduce task load (defined as the perceived difficulty in accomplishing a task or subjective mental workload) in the emergency department might provide useful information for policy makers.
In this systematic review, the authors searched for studies of the effect of task load interventions among emergency medical workers or other shift workers on fatigue and their sleep quality. They did not restrict their search by type of publication and did the search in September 2016. They included 5 observational studies, which they judged to be at serious or very serious risk of bias.
What was found: Based on the studies included in this review, the effects of task load interventions on fatigue, fatigue-related risks and sleep quality for emergency medical workers and other shift workers are uncertain.