Nurses Deserve a Break... and Patients Need Them to Get One

The Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA), an organization that represents more than 16,000 registered nurses in Washington State, has been working for the past several years to guarantee that nurses receive uninterrupted breaks in the workplace.  Research shows that when nurses are forced to work long hours, they have decreased alertness which can lead to an increase in errors.

Now, their work has paid off.  The WSNA has won landmark decisions on this issue in Seattle and Spokane, both of which state that it is an employer's responsibility to provide uninterrupted breaks.

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INQRI understands the importance of these decisions and we know that nurses need to be rested to perform at their best.  Our researchers at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro are in the final stages of their project on nurse "presenteeism."  The team, led by Susan Letvak and Christopher Ruhm, are evaluating the influence of presenteeism (decreased productivity due to health problems) on hospital registered nurses' quality of patient care. In addition, they are assessing the economic costs to the healthcare system associated with presenteeism.

• Click here to learn more about this INQRI-funded project.