Night care nursing — the overview of selected problems of nurses and patients

Reviews of hospitalized patients about health care arise largely based on their own experience or transmission of relatives, friends, media reports and are related to the issue of quality, including the quality of nursing care. The work of nursing teams’ as a part of hospital treatment involves detailed security, so planning round the clock, constant of care in the shift work system - morning, afternoon and night. Night care has different priorities than care performed in the morning and afternoon. The main aim of night care is to provide well-being, calmness, protection and repose, so that does not occur rhythm sleep disorders for hospitalized patients. In addition, night nursing care includes a lot of unique aspects not performed during the day.

The aim of the publication is an attempt of identification the most common nurses’ and patients’ problems related to night nursing care.

Critical review was carried out of 44 researches published in the Polish and foreign scientific journals between 2000–2014, which were divided according to two thematic categories: the impact shift work on health and life of nurses, patients’ satisfaction with night nursing care. The literature shows that shift work, including night-time causes a number of disorders in the nurses’ health, although in many cases, opinions are divergent. It should continue further research in this area among both: nurses and patients, to verify expectations, so as to ensure the highest degree of satisfaction with night nursing care.

Nursing Topics 2015; 23 (4): 520–526