![]() ![]() ![]() Personnel at departments that switch to the schedule tend to like it. So the question comes back to the 48/96 shift and whether it is a good shift schedule - and the answer (based on the current literature) is "it depends." A call could come at any moment, so people are not necessarily getting the deep, restorative sleep that the body requires. On the other hand, as most will readily report, the sleep at the firehouse is usually a lighter sleep. On one hand, there is a benefit in that personnel can get some rest. Rather, they are allowed to sleep between calls and only have to be awake if they are needed. At a hospital, those treating patients or staffing an ER have to be awake and alert all night.įor most of the fire and EMS community, that is not the case. That’s because of the different requirements and tasks. While the information is useful, and the short- and long-term considerations seen in health care settings should be considered, it is a challenge to apply the findings of health care settings directly to the fire service. In fact, the organizations that oversee regulations about time limits of medical residents has experimented with limiting the hours residents are allowed to work consecutively to improve safety. Science also tells us that shift work is generally bad for your health because it interrupts the body’s natural rhythm for sleep and often leads to chronic sleep disturbance.Ī review of literature presented by the International Association of Fire Chiefs outlined several risks and concerns related to shift work - mostly based on the literature available about residents and physicians. Science also tells us that sleep deprivation leads to increased risk of accidents, is related to depression and is related to obesity given it interrupts the peptides that regulate appetite. When at its extremes, impairment from sleep deprivation has been found to be similar to alcohol intoxication. It also impairs attention, makes you more forgetful, makes it harder to concentrate and impairs problem-solving and reasoning.
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