Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
their shift (Andorre and Quéinnec, 1996). This intense and global process
of information gathering allows them to update their representation of the
state of the system, and to have access to knowledge in order to be able to
anticipate future variations.
As a general rule, various sources of experience can support these evo-
lutions, leading workers to alter their practice over the course of months
and years:
• Experience derived from professional practice: Once they have been
confronted on several occasions with problematic situations during
the night shift, without the possibility of calling upon management,
operators, for example, alter the ways in which they ask questions
during oral feedback with the afternoon team, or reallocate differ-
ently the tasks that they have to complete during the night.
• Experience derived from the practice of colleagues, viewed as a
source of communication and learning: Operators who are begin-
ning night shift work often claim that they draw inspiration from
the modes of operation and strategies implemented by their more
experienced colleagues, from the advice they are given, from the
know-how that is shared, and by the abilities that are developed
within and for work activity.
• Experience derived from the knowledge of oneself, from psychophysi-
ological abilities, from the assessment of one's own state of health dur-
ing the work, and the impact of this state of health on the ability to
stay awake and react promptly and effectively during the entire shift.
Thus, the conditions of nocturnal activities do not only cause the same
task (as is carried out during the day or following regular hours) to be per-
formed differently. It is
another
task that is being performed, because of
the specific requirements related to the night shift (e.g. increased liability
and autonomy) and of a different weight in the importance of some cri-
teria (e.g. variations in task requirements, management of fatigue, etc.).
These elements lead to operators rethinking their work in different terms,
and constructing new skills that will have an influence - on the arduous-
ness of work and on the preservation of health, on the one hand, and on
the quality of work, on the other hand.
Designing enabling organizations for work
in rotating schedules and night schedules
When one takes an interest in the organization of work schedules, the pos-
sible means for action undoubtedly rely on the design of schedules that
are compatible with current medical knowledge (Folkard, 1992; Knauth,
1996) - but not only that. One should also rely on the focus of the sections
