The Effects of Light Intensity on Day and Night Shift Nurses' Health Performance

2203's picture
Journal Title, Volume, Page: 
Environmental Science Journal ; 8(12):460-466
Year of Publication: 
2013
Authors: 
Sharif Mohammad Musameh
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine
Current Affiliation: 
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine
Issam Rashid Abdel-Raziq
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine
Noorhan Fareed Al-Sheikh Mohammad
Preferred Abstract (Original): 
This study shed the light on the effect of light intensity on some of the dependent variables, such as blood oxygen saturation (SPO2%), heart pulse rate (P.R), arterial blood pressure (systolic (SBP), diastolic (DBP)), and tympanic temperature (T) of nurses, in their shift work. The sample consists of 207 nurses of both genders (104 female, 103 male), with mean age 29 years, and the mean duration of employment 6 years, were randomly chosen as a sample to fulfill the aim meant. This sample was taken from four hospitals in Nablus city. The values of light intensity in all hospital ranged from 220 Lux to 1000 Lux, at the day shift, and from 500 Lux to 1700 Lux, at the night shift. Number of measurements concerning the blood oxygen saturation, heart pulse rate, arterial blood pressure (systolic and diastolic), and tympanic temperature at different light intensities were taken for the selected sample before and an after exposure to light. Strong positive correlation (Pearson Correlation Coefficient) with light intensity was found for all measured variables. The statistical result for the dependent variables (SPO2%, P.R, SBP, DBP, T) showed that Pearson correlation coefficient (R) between light intensity and the dependent variables are approximately equal to one, and the Probabilities (P) are < 0.05. It was also found that blood oxygen saturation has Pearson's Coefficient R = 0.980 and probability P = 0.020, whereas heart pulse rate has R = 0.966 and probability P = 0.034, while systolic blood pressure has R = 0.985 and P = 0.015. In addition, diastolic blood pressure has R = 0.989 and P = 0.011, and the values for temperature are R = 0.990 and P = 0.010. This study shows that the health effects of light intensity depend on the light intensity itself, more specifically, nurses exposed to light intensity 1700 Lux, have a significant shift of the measured mean values ( blood oxygen saturation, heart pulse rate, arterial blood pressure (systolic and diastolic ), and tympanic temperature), more than nurses exposed to light intensity less than 500 Lux.