Impact of Electronic Media Use on Sleep Quality and Fatigue: Comparison between Shift Work Nurses and Nursing Students

Given the extensive use of electronic media in all age-groups globally and lack of research among nurses on its impact on their sleep and fatigue, this study aimed to investigate the electronic media usage on sleep quality and fatigue in shift work nurses by comparing them with nursing students in Japan. Our study findings indicated an extremely high usage of electronic media, especially smartphones and cellphones, in both shift work nurses and nursing students, particularly before going to bed. Nursing students’ screen times were significantly longer than that of nurses, and impacted their health levels. Nurses who used cellphones or smartphones for longer durations took significantly longer time to fall asleep than those who used them for shorter durations. Though sleep quality, sleep satisfaction, sleep duration, stress levels, fatigue levels, and health levels were not significantly different between the long duration group and the short duration group for screentime, both nurses and nursing students would benefit from restricting their screentime.