Influence of Workload Burden on Shift Work Disorder among Nurses in Selected Nigerian Teaching Hospitals.

Background: High nurse-patient ratios are burdensome for nurses and seem to be associated with shift work disorder. This study determined nurses' workload using nurse-patient ratios as indexes and examined the influence of workload burden on shift work disorder (SWD) among nurses. Methods: An ex-post facto design was utilized and was conducted in selected tertiary hospitals in Southwestern Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 422 respondents. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Data was analyzed with SPSS Version 20. Results Mean of respondents working on the wards was 13 ±5.1; the average nurse-patient ratio was 1: 8 ± 6.4. Prevalence of symptoms predictive of SWD was (49.6%). More than half of the nurses (55.9%) had high workload, while (44.1%) had low workload. Workload was significantly associated with insomnia (χ² = 7.07, p = 0.001), and sleepiness (χ²= 5.77, p = 0.01) among nurses. Conclusion: The study concluded that nurses who had more patients to care for had more symptoms predictive of shift work disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]