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Healthcare workers' cognitive performances and alertness are highly vulnerable to sleep loss and circadian rhythms. The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in sleep characteristics of intensive care unit (ICU) and non-ICU physicians. Actigraphic sleep parameters, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Epworth Sleepiness Scale and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale were evaluated for ICU and non-ICU physicians on the day before shift-work and on three consecutive days after shift-work. Total sleep time, sleep latency, wakefulness after sleep onset, total activity score, movement fragmentation index, sleep efficiency, daytime naps and total nap duration were also calculated by actigraph. In the ICU physicians, the mean Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score was significantly higher than the non-ICU physicians (P = 0.001), however mean Epworth Sleepiness Scale scores were not found significantly different between the two groups. None of the scores for objective sleep parameters were statistically different between the groups when evaluated before and after shift-work (P > 0.05). However in both ICU and non-ICU physicians, sleep latency was observed to be decreased within the three consecutive-day period after shift-work with respect to basal values (P < 0.001). Total sleep time, total activity score and sleep efficiency scores prior to shift-work were significantly different from shift-work and the three consecutive-days after shift-work, in both groups. Working in the ICU does not have an impact on objective sleep characteristics of physicians in this study. Large cohort studies are required to determine long-term health concerns of shift-working physicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which investigates the alterations in sleep characteristics of physicians in intensive care unit (ICU) and non-ICU. Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Epworth Sleepiness Scale and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index were measured for ICU and non-ICU physicians on the day before shift-work. The study reveals that sleep latency in both ICU and non-ICU was found to be decreased within the three consecutive days after shift-work.

Objective: The New Delirium Rating Scale (NDRS) makes use of verbal assessments to evaluate the cardinal features of delirium and is an observer-rated, 10-item symptom rating scale based on both DSM-IV and the findings of the previous clinical research. In this study, we tested the validity of the NDRS for measuring the severity of delirium in intensive care units. Methods: Thirty consecutive non-intubated patients admitted to the ICU for more than 24 hours were included in the study. Two intensivists were trained to rate delirium according to NDRS and they daily carried out structured interviews to evaluate the patients. All patients were interviewed by a psychiatrist for rating according to NDRS, and the data collected by the psychiatrist and the intensivists were compared. Results: The cut-off score for NDRS was 11.3 patients (10%), who were rated as delirious. The inter-rater reliability of the intensivists and the psychiatrist was found to be 0.84 and 0.90, respectively (p<0.0001). Conclusion: Intensivists easily used NDRS, a detailed delirium assessing scale, and rated delirium successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]