Exploration of Fatigue in Fourth-Year Nursing Students

The purpose of this study was to explore fatigue in fourth-year nursing students enrolled at a university in southwestern Ontario. A sample of 134 participants completed a demographic questionnaire and the Occupational Fatigue Exhaustion Recovery (OFER) scale midway through their final semester of school. The study examined the perceptions of fatigue, along with the predicting factors of chronic fatigue, acute fatigue and intershift recovery. Participants experienced moderate-high levels of acute and chronic fatigue, and low-moderate levels of intershift recovery. More than half of participants agreed that work drains their energy everyday, that they never have enough time between shifts to recover their energy and that they dread waking up to another day of work. Fatigue in nursing students needs further study including interventions that address chronic and acute fatigue and promote intershift recovery