FIGHTING FATIGUE TOGETHER
Fatigue is known to have detrimental effects on patient and staff safety, staff performance and health. Logical reasoning, vigilance, empathy, flexibility of thinking and ability to learn and retain information are all impacted by tiredness. Night shift workers have higher incidences of hypertension, diabetes and some forms of cancer. Other safety-critical industries are required by law to have fatigue risk management systems in place, but this is not so in healthcare.
FATIGUE IS A RISK FOR BOTH HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS AND PATIENTS
Fatigue is affecting the well-being and safety of healthcare professionals with greater intensity and on a larger scale than ever before. But we are all likely to be affected because fatigue is also a danger to patient safety.
WE NEED TO ACT BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!
Over recent decades, working conditions have become increasingly difficult in health institutions across Europe. At some point, the limits of what is humanely reasonable to expect from healthcare professionals have been crossed. The Covid 19 pandemic has made things worse and shown that we canno longer afford to ignore the well-being of healthcare staff. It is nothing less than the continuity of healthcare services that is at stake.
FROM NATIONAL TO EUROPEAN COLLABORATIVE CAMPAIGN
In March 2021, the EUPSF became official backer of the #FightFatigue campaign, initially a joint initiative in UK of the Association of Anaesthetists, Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine launched in 2018 in response to the tragic death of a trainee anaesthetist who died whilst driving home tired after a night shift.
With the help of the UK campaign team, the European Patient Safety Foundation initiated this collaborative campaign to accelerate change by sharing the experience and tools from the UK campaign across Europe.
In collaboration with organisations representing healthcare professionals, patients, academia, hospitals and industry, we want to raise awareness of the risks of fatigue and its impact on health and performance. Together we are able to take into account the specific context of each country and finding ways to make EVERYONE feel concerned.
Together we want to implement tools and recommendations on how to manage fatigue and improve the well-being and safety of healthcare staff.
And together we can strive to go even further and advocate for more humane working conditions, allowing caregivers time to rest, time to grow and time to provide safe care for their patients.
