Physicians' tiredness and perception of stress after a 16-hour working period at the emergency department

In addition to their 40-hour working week (Mon-Fri, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.) resident s at the emergency department of the General Hospital of Vienna have to do approximately six 24-hour duties. The reasons for conducting the present fi eld study were physicians' complaints about tiring night duties. 11 residen ts (4 women, 7 men;: aged between 28 and 43 years, x = 33.5 +/- 4.9 years; working at the emergency department for 4-50 months, x = 31 +/- 20 months) were tested on an ordinary working day at 9 a.m. and midnight. Self-rating concerning sleep duration, perception of stress and workload on the days of the investigations were found to be representative of other prolonged duti es. Subjects reported a usual nocturnal steep duration of only 6-7 hours. S tress was regarded as moderate by most of the volunteers. Blood pressure an d pulse rates did not show diurnal changes. Generally, residents felt signi ficantly (p < 0,01) less awake at night than in the morning, but reported o nly slight vegetative and somatic stress reactions or annoyances as assesse d by the Fahrenberg sell-rating scale. Interindividual differences were fou nd; residents who had been working at the emergency department for a longer period experienced a more pronounced impairment. Further studies are requi red in order to objectify a nocturnal decrease in vigilance (by means of co mputer-assisted EEG) and to evaluate potential performance deficits (by mea ns of psychometric tests).