Slide Presentation of the 2007 Annual Meeting of AHRQ

Case Study 1

On July 4, 2006, a nurse worked a double shift that ended at midnight. The nurse had volunteered for the shifts some time prior to coming to work on July 4 and had arranged to sleep at the hospital following the shifts because she began another scheduled 8-hour shift on the Birthing Unit, at 7:00 a.m. on July 5th.

Notes:

If work a double shift, very likely to be awake for 19 or more hours.
If awake 19 or 24 hours doesn't mean that you will make a mistake, but suggests that very high risk of errors, just like someone with a high BAL is likely to have a crash.
Next slide, shows what can happen when nurses are awake for sustained periods. From CAN website.