Working long and irregular hours increases the risk of harmful drinking, according to recently released research from the Australasian nurse and midwives e-cohort study.
The University of Otago, Christchurch research was just published in the International Journal of Nursing Studies and draws on data from 4419 nurses and midwives, including 867 New Zealand nurses, signed up to the University of Queensland-based e-cohort study.
The research showed that nearly 14 per cent of participants engaged in harmful drinking of more than two standard alcohol drinks a day and that there were “significant associations” between alcohol abuse and working long and irregular hours.
It also found that nurses working more than 40 hours a week were more likely to engage in harmful daily drinking and the longer hours they worked, the more likely they were to drink.
“Other studies have found that 6–10 per cent of nurses abuse alcohol at any one time and that 10–15 per cent will abuse it at some time during their careers, so this result regarding the impact of long working hours and alcohol is significant as it is substantially higher,” said lead researcher Professor Philip Schluter.
He said this was important as international research showed long working hours had a detrimental association with workplace accidents and compromised patient safety.
Schluter also noted that self-reported alcohol abuse in the study was “surprisingly” low at only 1.6% which suggested many nurses and midwives might be “under reporting or not revealing harmful drinking”.
Age was another factor with the older nurse or midwife, particularly over 60, being at highest risk of harmful daily drinking which he said was not surprising as other studies indicated older people were more often steady, daily drinkers.
Professor Schluter said the results emphasised the need for increased awareness of the need to detect alcohol problems and intervention strategies to prevent abuse, particularly with working hours steadily increasing in Australasia over the past 30 years.
