Preventing and Mitigating Nurse Fatigue in Health Care

Published: August 2011
Available in English, French
Healthy work environment (HWE)

Purpose and scope

The purpose of this best practice guideline (BPG) is to identify and describe: practices that result in preventing and mitigating fatigue for nurses and other health-care professionals; system resources that support practices to prevent fatigue; organizational…

The purpose of this best practice guideline (BPG) is to identify and describe:

  • practices that result in preventing and mitigating fatigue for nurses and other health-care professionals;
  • system resources that support practices to prevent fatigue;
  • organizational culture, values and resources that support effective practices to prevent fatigue;
  • personal resources that can be used to prevent or mitigate fatigue; and
  • anticipated outcomes when fatigue is effectively managed.

This best practice guideline addresses:

  • knowledge, competencies and behaviours that recognize, prevent and mitigate fatigue;
  • educational requirements and strategies;
  • policy changes at organizational and system levels needed to support and sustain practices that prevent and mitigate fatigue;
  • implementation strategies and tools;
  • evaluation criteria and tools; and
  • future research opportunities.

Reference

Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario. (2011). Preventing and Mitigating Nurse Fatigue in Health Care Healthy Work Environments Best Practice Guideline. Toronto, ON: Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario.

Recommendations

Do you want to learn about and implement the most- up-to-date evidence-based recommendations on this topic with your colleagues? Download and share the full best practice guideline (BPG), Preventing and Mitigating Nurse Fatigue in Health Care.
See below for a snapshot of the recommendations from this BPG. We strongly suggest you review the full BPG before implementing the recommendations and good practice statements. The BPG also includes further resources to support implementation and evaluation.  

Disclaimer: These guidelines are not binding for nurses, other health providers or the organizations that employ them. The use of these guidelines should be flexible and based on individual needs and local circumstances. They constitute neither a liability nor discharge from liability. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the contents at the time of publication, neither the authors nor the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) gives any guarantee as to the accuracy of the information contained in them or accepts any liability with respect to loss, damage, injury or expense arising from any such errors or omission in the contents of this work.

Revision status

Current edition published: August 2011

Contact

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