Deakin University
Browse

File(s) under permanent embargo

The effect of working on-call on stress physiology and sleep: a systematic review

Version 3 2024-10-19, 23:36
Version 2 2024-06-05, 03:33
Version 1 2016-08-22, 11:34
journal contribution
posted on 2024-10-19, 23:36 authored by Sarah HallSarah Hall, SA Ferguson, Anne TurnerAnne Turner, SJ Robertson, GE Vincent, Brad AisbettBrad Aisbett
On-call work is becoming an increasingly common work pattern, yet the human impacts of this type of work are not well established. Given the likelihood of calls to occur outside regular work hours, it is important to consider the potential impact of working on-call on stress physiology and sleep. The aims of this review were to collate and evaluate evidence on the effects of working on-call from home on stress physiology and sleep. A systematic search of Ebsco Host, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus and ScienceDirect was conducted. Search terms included: on-call, on call, standby, sleep, cortisol, heart rate, adrenaline, noradrenaline, nor-adrenaline, epinephrine, norepinephrine, nor-epinephrine, salivary alpha amylase and alpha amylase. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria, with only one study investigating the effect of working on-call from home on stress physiology. All eight studies investigated the effect of working on-call from home on sleep. Working on-call from home appears to adversely affect sleep quantity, and in most cases, sleep quality. However, studies did not differentiate between night's on-call from home with and without calls. Data examining the effect of working on-call from home on stress physiology were not sufficient to draw meaningful conclusions.

History

Journal

Sleep medicine reviews

Volume

33

Pagination

79-87

Location

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

ISSN

1087-0792

eISSN

1532-2955

Language

eng

Publication classification

C Journal article, C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2016, Elsevier

Publisher

Elsevier