IMPACT OF LONG WORKING HOURS ON NURSES PERFORMANCES AT RIVER NILE STATE PUBLIC HOSPITALS -SUDAN

Us. Abdualrahman Akasha Abdualrahman Mohammed* and Dr. Higazi Mohammed Ahamed Abdallah Awad

ABSTRACT

Background: The impact of extended working hours on nurses' performance is a critical issue in healthcare
systems. Long working hours have the potential to compromise the quality of patient care. Objectives: this study
was carried out to investigate the impact of long working hours on nurse’s performance. Methodology: This was
descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted during the period from August 2022 to August 2024 at the main
three governmental hospitals of River Nile State. The data was collected by questionnaire, checklist, (156) nurses
participated in the study, data was analyzed by (SPSS) software program and presented in tables and figures, all
data fixed or adjusted at level P- value less than (0.05). Results: most of nurses participated in the study were
female (84.6%), less than one-third (31.4%) were aged between 26 and 30 years, and more than half (51.9%) were
married and more than two-thirds of nurses worked 16-hour shifts. The findings indicate that long work hours
negatively impact nurses' sleep. The result of this study confirmed that work hours significantly impair nurse’s
performance. Conclusions: The extended work hours have a profound negative impact on nurse performance,
including impairments in leadership, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills. Moreover, Sleep deprivation
contribute to diminished nurses’ performance. Finally, there is a relationship between work hours per week, sleep
average hours.

Keywords: long Working hours, Nurses performances.