A Combined Field and Laboratory Design for Assessing the Impact of Night Shift Work on Police Officer Operational Performance

作者：Waggoner Lauren B; Grant Devon A; Van Dongen Hans P A; Belenky Gregory; Vila Bryan^*

来源：SLEEP, 2012, 35(11): 1575-1577.

DOI：10.5665/sleep.2214

• Night and shift work
• research design
• police
• operational performance
• high fidelity driving simulator
• motor vehicle crash risk
• psychomotor vigilance test (PVT)
• performance impairment
• subjective sleepiness

Objectives: This study assessed the utility of a combined field and laboratory research design for measuring the impact of consecutive night shift work on the sleepiness, vigilance, and driving performance of police patrol officers. %26lt;br%26gt;Design: For police patrol officers working their normal night shift duty cycles, simulated driving performance and psychomotor vigilance were measured in a laboratory on two separate occasions: in the morning after the last of five consecutive 10.7-h night shifts, and at the same time in the morning after three consecutive days off duty. Order of participation in conditions was randomized among subjects. %26lt;br%26gt;Setting: Subjects experienced manipulation of sleep schedules due to working night shifts in a real operational environment, but performance testing was conducted under controlled laboratory conditions. %26lt;br%26gt;Participants: N = 29 active-duty police patrol officers (27 male, 2 female; age 37.1 +/- 6.3 years) working night shift schedules participated in this study. %26lt;br%26gt;Results: Simulated driving performance, psychomotor vigilance, and subjective sleepiness were significantly degraded following 5 consecutive night shifts as compared to 3 consecutive days off duty, indicating that active-duty police officers are susceptible to performance degradation as a consequence of working nights. %26lt;br%26gt;Conclusions: This combined field and laboratory research design succeeded in bridging the gap between the realism of the operational environment and the control of laboratory performance testing, demonstrating that this is a useful approach for addressing the relationship between shift work induced fatigue and critical operational task performance.

• 出版日期2012-11-1