Nurse rostering: understanding the current shift work scheduling processes, benefits, limitations, and potential fatigue risks.

Background: Implementing appropriate shift work schedules can help mitigate the risk of sleep impairment and reduce fatigue of healthcare workers, reducing occupational health and safety risks. In Australia, the organisation has a responsibility to make sure all reasonable measures are taken to reduce fatigue of staff. Therefore, it is important to assess what the current rostering processes is for staff responsible for creating the rosters for nurses.

Sleep and fatigue management strategies: How nurses, midwives and paramedics cope with their shift work schedules-a qualitative study.

Aims: To understand the benefits and challenges of shift work, and the coping strategies used by nurses, midwives and paramedics to manage the impact of shift work on sleep and fatigue from shift work.

Design: A single case study with embedded units.

Methods: Twenty-seven participants were interviewed exploring their shift work experiences, coping strategies used to improve sleep, and what their recommendations are for improving shift work management.

Maternal Circadian Disruption from Shift Work and the Impact on the Concentration of Melatonin in Breast Milk.

Melatonin in breast milk exhibits a 24-hour circadian rhythm, present in nighttime breast milk but nearly undetectable in daytime breast milk. Shift work can disrupt the circadian timing of individuals, evident in changes in melatonin in saliva and urine samples. However, it is unknown whether these changes are also reflected in breast milk from a shift working mother.

Rapid Versus Slow Cooling Pasteurization of Donor Breast Milk: Does the Cooling Rate Effect Melatonin Reduction?

There is a question as to whether melatonin levels in breast milk are impacted by the cooling rate postpasteurization. Past research that has used in the Australian donor bank's breast milk Holder Pasteurization technique has reported varying findings regarding melatonin levels postpasteurization. Where breast milk was cooled slowly, a significant reduction in breast milk melatonin levels was observed.

Differences in shift and work-related patterns between metropolitan and regional/rural healthcare shift workers and the occupational health and safety risks.

Objectives: To explore if there are differences in shift patterns and work-related factors between metropolitan and regional/rural healthcare shift workers and their risk of poor sleep and mental health. Furthermore, explore whether these factors impact on medical errors, workplace and car/near car accidents.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

High-Temperature Pasteurization Used at Donor Breast Milk Banks Reduces Melatonin Levels in Breast Milk.

Donor human milk banks are used when breast milk directly from mothers is unavailable or insufficient. Breast milk contains melatonin, which exhibits a 24-hour pattern. Melatonin promotes sleep onset and is barely detected in daytime milk but rises in the evening and peaks early in the morning.

Preliminary Exploration into the Impact of Mistimed Expressed Breast Milk Feeding on Infant Sleep Outcomes, Compared to Other Feeding Patterns.

The presence and fluctuation of melatonin in breast milk during the night and day may be providing sleep timing information to infants, thereby supporting/enabling the development of their own circadian cycle. If this is the case, then it is important that infants consume breast milk according to the time of day it is produced. However, breast milk is not always consumed at the "right" time.

Association between indigenous status and Body Mass Index (BMI) in Australian adults: Does sleep duration affect the relationship?

Background: Overweight/obesity is a well-defined risk factor for a variety of chronic cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Sleep duration has been associated with overweight/obesity and other cardio metabolic and neurocognitive problems. Notably, overweight/obesity and many of the associated comorbidities are prevalent in Indigenous Australians.

Is sleep duration associated with overweight/obesity in Indigenous Australian adults?

Background: Associations between high BMI and sleep duration and chronic illness are recognised. Short sleep is an accepted predictor of high BMI for children, including Indigenous Australian children. Short sleep has also been associated with high BMI in Australian adults, although not specifically in Indigenous Australian adults.

The mediating role of sleep in the relationship between Indigenous status and body mass index in Australian school-aged children.

Aim: Associations between sleep duration and obesity and between obesity and chronic illness are established. Current rates of obesity for all Australian people are rising. Recent reports indicate that high body mass index (BMI) is a leading contributor to overall burden of disease for Indigenous Australians.

Association between short sleep duration and body mass index in Australian Indigenous children.

Aim: Associations between short sleep duration and obesity and the relationship between obesity and chronic illness are well documented. Obese children are likely to become obese adults. To date, there is a paucity of information regarding sleep duration and quality for Indigenous Australian people.

Chronic disease, medications and lifestyle: perceptions from a regional Victorian Aboriginal community.

Background: Poor medication management may contribute to the increased morbidity and mortality of Aboriginal people in Australia. Yet while there is extensive literature about the perceptions of healthcare providers on this issue, there is limited information on the perceptions of Aboriginal people themselves.

Objectives: To investigate the perceptions of a group of Aboriginal people attending a Victorian regional Aboriginal Health Service (AHS) with diagnosed medical conditions requiring medications, of their lifestyle, disease management and medication usage.

Nurses' attitudes toward their role in patient discharge medication education and toward collaboration with hospital pharmacists: a staff development issue.

This qualitative pilot study explored nurses' attitudes toward their role in patients' discharge medication education and collaboration with pharmacists. Purposive sampling was used, and data were collected by a focus group interview. The findings give a clear indication of the need for extensive staff development.

Developing new services for eating disorders: an evaluation study.

Objective: This paper aims to evaluate the structures and processes of eating disorders services in two regional cities in Australia.

Method: Stakeholder evaluation undertaken between 2002 and 2005 uses interviews, questionnaires and service delivery data to examine: structure and patient profile of the two services, barriers and success factors and local factors influencing development of the services.

Results: The Bendigo service provided secondary consultation and specialist management with upskilling of primary care workers as a key goal.