Exploration of shift work among nursing professionals related to interconnected determinants of health in a hospital: a cross-sectional study

To explore sleep quality and its co-occurrence with interconnected health variables (perceived stress, general mental health, everyday memory complaints, and quality of life) among nursing professionals, evaluating differences across shift work, gender, and age subgroups. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at Son Espases University Hospital (Spain). Data were collected between March 3 and March 24, 2025, using an online questionnaire distributed via corporate email. A total of 247 nursing professionals (85.8% female, aged 21–65) completed standardized tools: PSQI (sleep quality), MCTQ (chronotype), PSS-14 (perceived stress), GHQ-12 (general mental health), MFE-30 (memory failures), and WHOQOL-BREF (quality of life). Across all shifts, participants exhibited poor sleep quality (PSQI > 5), a high prevalence of undefined chronotype (64–66%), moderate stress (~ 26 points), psychological distress (~ 14 points), and memory complaints (~ 58 points), while maintaining favorable quality of life (~ 90 points). Day-shift workers reported significantly higher sleep medication use than rotating-shift workers ( p = .011). Subgroup analyses revealed that females on rotating shifts reported significantly more memory complaints than males ( p = .005), and professionals over 50 years on fixed night shifts presented significantly poorer mental health ( p = .024) and severe memory complaints ( p = .012). Nursing professionals present widespread poor sleep quality, moderate stress, and subjective cognitive complaints, with greater mental health and memory vulnerability observed among females on rotating shifts and workers aged over 50 on night shifts. Rather than generic measures, organizational strategies should implement tailored shift scheduling aligned with individual chronotypes and age, integrate routine occupational monitoring of sleep and mental health, and provide targeted stress-management interventions.