THURSDAY, Nov. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Intensive care unit (ICU) nurses are more likely than floor nurses to show evidence of abnormal sleep, which may be associated with an increased number of errors during their shifts. In addition, a high-intensity staffing model may decrease pneumonia rates in the ICU, according to research presented at the 75th annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians, held from Oct. 31 to Nov. 5 in San Diego.

In one study, Shyam Subramanian, M.D., of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and colleagues compared overall sleep quality and vigilance in ICU nurses and floor nurses at the beginning and end of their shift. They found that ICU nurses had a significantly higher median score on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Questionnaire than floor nurses (7.40 versus 5.73). They also found that the median number of errors at either end of the shift was significantly different among ICU nurses (2.48 versus 3.57) but not among floor nurses (1.64 versus 1.52).

In a second study, researchers from the Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, N.J., studied the effects of a high-intensity staffing model that was implemented at a 16-bed medical-surgical ICU in mid-2007. They found that the model was associated with a significant decrease in the ventilator-associated pneumonia incidence rate per 1,000 ventilator days (from 2.8 to 0).

"Sleepiness amongst nurses is both prevalent and has implications for patient safety," Subramanian and colleagues write.

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