Purpose
This study explored nurses’ experiences and perspectives regarding the shift system improvement pilot project, as well as their recommendations for shift work policies, and examined variations according to nurse and hospital characteristics. Methods: Structural topic modeling was applied to open-ended survey responses from 208 nurses. Topic prevalence was examined according to career length, marital status, education, hospital location, and bed capacity. Findings: Six topics emerged: experiences with implementing a pilot project for shift system improvement; shift system improvements for sustainability; physical burden and challenges of fixed night shifts; the impact of shift system improvement on personal life; nurse staffing levels for providing safe nursing care; and nursing workforce expansion and work distribution for quality care. Workforce adequacy showed the highest prevalence and was the dominant theme across all career lengths. The prevalence of system improvement was higher among nurses with ≤3 years and >10 years of experience, whereas nurses with 3–10 years of experience focused more on project participation. Smaller hospitals prioritized system improvements, whereas larger hospitals emphasized the physical burden. Conclusion: Nursing workforce adequacy emerged as nurses’ primary concern, surpassing concerns related to shift system design. Policy should prioritize legally mandated nurse staffing ratios as the foundation for sustainable shift systems, with interventions tailored to organizational capacity and career length.

Purpose
This study aimed to not only examine the changes in working hours and labor intensity, but also investigate their effects on sleep difficulties of shift work nurses.
Methods
Data from the 3rd (2011) to the 6th (2020) Korean Working Condition Surveys were analyzed, and the final sample included data of 514 nurses. Working time was measured considering nurses’ weekly working hours, number of night shifts, and number of days in a month when they worked more than 10 hours a day. Labor intensity included labor density, emotional labor, and work interruption. Sleep difficulty was measured using three items in 5th and 6th surveys.
Results
Weekly working hours, and long working days tended to decrease with the flow of the year, while work density, emotional labor, and work interruption tended to increase. Number of long working days, work density, and work interruption were found to produce a sleep difficulty effect in nurses.
Conclusion
To avoid sleep difficulties in nurses, adequate nurse staffing is required to prevent long working hours, and work density and work interruption need to be considered when determining the nurses’ workload.

Citations

• Effects of Work Demands and Rewards of Nurses on Exhaustion and Sleep Disturbance: Focusing on Comparison With Other Shift Workers
  Kyung Jin Hong
  Nursing Open.2025;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Impact of nurses’ health beliefs about caring for older adults on their own preparation for old age
  Se Jin Hwang, Minkyung Gu, Saekyae Shin, Sohyune Sok
  Frontiers in Public Health.2025;[Epub]     CrossRef
• 건강관심도가 운동수행정도를 매개로 식습관에 미치는 영향: 간호사 및 사무직을 대상으로
  선주 김, 인영 이, 나미 주
  Korean Journal of Food and Cookery Science.2025; 41(5): 321.     CrossRef
• The Impact of Shift Working Types on Sleep Disturbance: The Mediating Role of Subjective Well-being
  Eun Hee Choi
  The Korean Journal of Health Service Management.2025; 19(3): 31.     CrossRef
• Dysmenorrhea and Occupational Factors
  Heeja Jung, Hyunju Dan, Chiyoung Cha, Yanghee Pang, Juan Manuel Carmona-Torres
  Journal of Nursing Management.2024;[Epub]     CrossRef

Purpose
This study aimed to identify the changes in dietary behavior of shift work nurses and its influencing factors over time. Methods: This was a secondary data analysis study based on the Shift Work Nurses’ Health and Turnover study. Data of 165 shift work nurses, who were followed for three-time points [before shift work (T0), after 6 months (T1), and after 18 months(T2) of shift work], were analyzed. Dietary behavior, level of stress, fatigue, depressive symptoms, and the amount of physical activity were measured. SPSS 28.0 was used to analyze the data to acquire descriptive statistics, repeated-measures ANOVA, and multiple linear regression with generalized estimating equations (GEE). Results: Dietary behavior of shift work nurses was poorer at T1 and T2 as compared to T0. As a result of GEE, shift work duration, level of stress, fatigue, and depressive symptoms were found to have negative impacts on dietary behavior. Conclusion: Dietary behavior deteriorated and remained poor over time since shift work began. Shift work, along with stress, fatigue, and depressive symptoms, were the factors influencing their dietary behavior. Thus, to improve shift work nurses’ dietary behavior, efforts to decrease stress, and alleviate fatigue and depressive symptoms are urgently required.

Citations

• Factors Associated With Insomnia in Shift-Working Airline Mechanics
  Da-In Park, Jung-Ha Kim
  Workplace Health & Safety.2025; 73(11): 562.     CrossRef
• Eating behaviors, home meal replacement consumption, and nutrition quotient: a comparative study of male shift and non-shift workers in Chungcheong, Korea
  Yeon Jin Lee, Munkyong Pae
  Nutrition Research and Practice.2025; 19(5): 758.     CrossRef
• Dietary behavior and its influencing factors among experienced shiftwork nurses: a secondary analysis
  Soyeon Kim, Jison Ki, Ji Yun Choi, Woan Heui Choi, Smi Choi-Kwon
  Korean Journal of Women Health Nursing.2023; 29(1): 32.     CrossRef