Dr. Prince Chima Ozoemena¹, Dr. Frank Peters¹

The objective of this study was to explore the sleep problems of medical practitioners working in public hospitals. The cross-sectional study was conducted from August to October 2015 on Medical practitioners in four public hospitals in Pretoria and Tembisa. The representative sample was 300 doctors selected from these hospitals. Their sleep patterns were evaluated using Questionnaires that included Socio-demographic data and the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). STATA 14 was used for analysis of data collected. The sample included 117 (39.3%) medical officers, 87 (28.7%), medical interns, 82 (27.3%) medical registrars and 14 (4.7%) community service doctors. It provided some evidence of significant distortion in the sleep patterns of medical practitioners as shown by high prevalence of sleep deprivation, daytime dysfunction, self-use of medications to sleep and reduced sleep quality. Of the 300 participants, 254 (84.7%) where sleep deprived and 161 (53.7%) admitted to have used medications to sleep in the past month. The researcher concluded that the quality of sleep or wakefulness of an individual goes a long way to determine his or her cognitive output. Sleep deprivation has the potential of compromising a doctor’s performance and patient care. There is impairment in the sleep patterns of medical practitioners. It also shows the need for improvement, in order to maintain their well-being and performance.

sleep patterns, medical practitioners, hospitals, Pretoria South Africa