RESEARCH ARTICLE
Insomnia among Intensive Care Unit Nurses in the United Arab Emirates and its Association to Work Productivity and Quality of Life
Hassnaa Shaban Mobarak1, *, Fatma Refaat Ahmed1, 2, Nabeel Al-Yateem1, Wegdan Bani-Issa1, Muna Ibrahim Alhosani1, Mohannad Eid AbuRuz3
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2023Volume: 17
E-location ID: e18744346281502
Publisher ID: e18744346281502
DOI: 10.2174/0118744346281502231031102549
Article History:
Received Date: 27/09/2023Revision Received Date: 22/10/2023
Acceptance Date: 24/10/2023
Electronic publication date: 22/11/2023
Collection year: 2023
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
A healthy workforce is essential for sustainable healthcare systems, disease control, and the provision of quality and safe healthcare services. Insomnia is a common problem among critical care nurses attributed to the hard nature of their work, long and irregular shifts, high levels of stress and tension, and exposure to traumatic situations associated with critical care environments. These issues compromise their professional and personal lives, have financial consequences for health organizations, and may reduce the quality of care provided to patients.
Aim:
To assess the prevalence of insomnia among ICU nurses and determine its impact on their Quality of Life (QoL) and work productivity.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study involved 430 ICU nurses working in three major governmental hospitals in the United Arab Emirates. Nurses were selected via convenient sampling. Data collected included nurses’ demographic characteristics, insomnia levels using the Athens Insomnia Scale, work productivity using the workability index, and QoL using the World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale-Brief questionnaire
Results:
Approximately 237 (55%) of participants reported moderate to severe levels of insomnia, and 195 (45.3%) had moderate productivity levels. However, the majority of participants reported low QoL levels in physical, psychological, social, and environmental QoL domains (61.4%, 60.2%, 47.2%, and 70.5%), respectively. Bivariate correlations demonstrated a significant negative relationship; correlation coefficient of -0.517, between participants' insomnia levels and work productivity levels. Additionally, significant negative relationships were found between insomnia levels and the QoL domains, with correlation coefficients of -0.629, -0.568, -0.469, and -0.485, respectively.
Conclusion:
This study found that insomnia has a negative relationship with ICU nurses’ work productivity and QoL. This may impact care delivery patient care and safety.Regular counseling sessions, better working hours, less overtime, and a better work-life balance may contribute to increased productivity and improved QoL among ICU nurses in the UAE.
