Trial reportSleep2024
Effects of a work schedule with abated quick returns on insomnia, sleepiness, and work-related fatigue: results from a large-scale cluster randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Sleep, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04693182 (Towards a Sustainable Work Force in the Healthcare Sector for the 21st Century), which is not on this map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Towards a Sustainable Work Force in the Healthcare Sector for the 21st Century: Health-promoting Work Schedules (HeWoS)
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Shift Schedule With Fewer Short Daily Rest Periods and Sickness Absence Among Health Care Workers: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- Shift Work and Psychological Distress Among Healthcare Workers: The Mediating Role of Sleep Quality and the Association with Job Dissatisfaction.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Effects of Reducing the Number of Quick Returns (< 11 h off Between Shifts) on Turnover Intention and Job Satisfaction: a Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial Among Healthcare Workers.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis on the associations between short rest periods between shifts and health, function, and behavioral outcomes.Systematic reviews · 2026Article
- Associations between shift work characteristics and work-related accidents and dozing off: combining objective working-time register and retrospective survey data.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2026Article
- Unexplored dimension of shift work: the effects of late-early shifts on nurses and their wellbeing - a qualitative study.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- Relationship between shift scheduling, sleep knowledge and sleep quality in medical trainees: protocol for a global cross-sectional survey.Journal of thoracic disease · 2025Article
- The 1001 nights-cohort - paving the way for future research on working hours, night work, circadian disruption, sleep, and health.European journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Changing the organizational work schedule of shift workers leads to improved sleep-an editorial.Sleep · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
STUDY
objectivesTo investigate the effect of a work schedule with abated quick returns (i.e. > 11 hours between two shifts) on insomnia, daytime sleepiness, and work-related fatigue compared to a shift schedule maintaining the usual number of quick returns.
methodsA two-armed cluster randomized controlled trial including 66 units was conducted at a university hospital in Norway. Units with healthcare workers on rotating shift schedules were randomly assigned to a shift schedule with abated quick returns (intervention) or to continue with a schedule including quick returns as usual (control) for 6 months. Questionnaires assessed symptoms of insomnia (Bergen Insomnia Scale [BIS]), daytime sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale [ESS]), and work-related fatigue (Revised Swedish Occupational Fatigue Inventory) at baseline and towards the end of the intervention. Data were analyzed using multilevel linear mixed-effects models, and Cohen's d was used to calculate the effect size between groups.
resultsOverall, 1314 healthcare workers (85.2% female) completed the baseline questionnaire (response rate 49.1%), and 552 completed the follow-up questionnaire. The intervention reduced quick returns from an average of 13.2 (SD = 8.7) to 6.7 (SD = 6.0), while the control group's average remained relatively unchanged from 13.2 (SD = 8.7) to 12.0 (SD = 9.3). Results showed a small improvement in symptoms of insomnia (BIS; d = -0.13, p = .022) and daytime sleepiness (ESS; d = -0.14, p = .013) in favor of the intervention. No effects were observed on work-related fatigue.
conclusionsReducing the number of quick returns in the work schedule resulted in improvements in insomnia and daytime sleepiness. The findings highlight the importance of sufficient daily rest time in the work schedule of healthcare workers. CLINICAL TRIAL: Health Promoting Work Schedules: The Effect of Abolishing Quick Returns (HeWoS); clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04693182; Registered at ClinicalTrials.gov with the identifier NCT04693182.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.