Elias Celi*, Juan Esteban Tafur Delgado, Aaron Alberto Guzman Tello, Jessica Nicole Ordonez Reyna, Maria Belen Vega Carvajal, Cristhian Enrique Sanipatin Mora, Luis Miguel Teran Cevallos, Jorge Fabara
Sleep, rest, is a complex physiological process, but that, however, is extremely important for our body to function properly, both in structural and functional terms, as well as in our interaction with the environment Introduction: In Ecuador, as surely in many hospitals in Latin America, especially public, the demands on rotating inmates are extremely great. These demands lead to sleep deprivation and therefore sleep rest. This deprivation generates alterations in the correct functioning of the organism and also entails behavioral alterations that are detrimental to the attention of patients.
Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was carried out, using as a tool a questionnaire of 6 closed questions. This questionnaire was distributed and carried out digitally by 76 rotating inmates of the Pablo Arturo Suárez General Hospital between 2017 and 2018.
Results: It was evidenced that 70% of the rotating medical inmates felt more tired between 00:00-03:00 am, 15% between 03:00-04:00 am, 6% between 06:00 am and 12:00 pm and finally 6% responded between 12:00-18:00 pm. No inmates reported feeling affected between 04:00-06:00 am. When it was inquired about how many hours are necessary to partially recover, it was evident that 42.9% required at least 3 hours of sleep, 42.9% 2 hours, 3.6% 1 hour, 3.6% 45 minutes and finally 7.1% 30 minutes. According to the survey, the services where a greater affection was evidenced by lack of sleep were Neonatology with 42%, Emergency in 27% and Surgery in 24% and Internal Medicine in 6%. When it was indicated which services generated a greater time of diversified occupation per service, it was evident that emergency and gynecology were the least monotonous with 25% and 21%, while the most monotonous were surgery 14% and neonatology 4% respectively. We also observed that theorization of mechanisms to reduce sleep during the guards were frequent, among them: Sweets: 27%, Music: 24%, Coffee: 24%, Drinks and stimulants other than coffee: 18%, medicine 3%, nothing: 3%; 48% answered that the various methods used partially help, 38.7% mentioned that they do not help and 12% answered that they do help
Conclusions: Lack of sleep and with it the lack of rest in rotating inmates affects their health, but also their action and behavior with patients. It is important to reduce the working day, improve the treatment of rotating inmates, diversify their tasks and perhaps, facilitate activities or resources that improve their status and performance.