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Apples in Night Shift

P

Peking University

Status

Not yet enrolling

Conditions

Night Work

Treatments

Procedure: apple group
Procedure: no apple group

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT06714422
APPLE study

Details and patient eligibility

About

Background: Emergency doctors face a highly stressful work environment during night shifts. Long-term night shift work can lead to sleep deprivation, fatigue accumulation, and disruption of the biological clock, which may affect doctors' work efficiency and physical and mental health. There are various health interventions for night shift doctors, one of which is an interesting practice of carrying an apple as a symbol of the "night shift deity" to relieve anxiety and improve work efficiency. Although this behavior is not supported by sufficient scientific evidence, it has become a common habit among some doctors during night shifts due to its simplicity, low risk, and ritualistic nature.

Objective: To assess whether carrying an apple during night shifts can significantly reduce fatigue, decrease work intensity, and enhance work experience for emergency doctors.

Design: Single-center, open-label, randomized controlled trial.

Participants: several doctors with a total of 60 emergency working night shifts.

Primary Outcome: Average number of patients per night shift.

Sample Size: The study plans to recruit several doctors with a total of 60 emergency night shifts and randomly assign them to the experimental group and the control group. One doctor can be randomized for many times.

Full description

Background: Emergency doctors face a highly stressful work environment during night shifts. Long-term night shift work can lead to sleep deprivation, fatigue accumulation, and disruption of the biological clock, which may affect doctors' work efficiency and physical and mental health. There are various health interventions for night shift doctors, one of which is an interesting practice of carrying an apple as a symbol of the "night shift deity" to relieve anxiety and improve work efficiency. Although this behavior is not supported by sufficient scientific evidence, it has become a common habit among some doctors during night shifts due to its simplicity, low risk, and ritualistic nature.

Objective: To assess whether carrying an apple during night shifts can significantly reduce fatigue, decrease work intensity, and enhance work experience for emergency doctors.

Design: Single-center, open-label, randomized controlled trial.

Participants: several doctors with a total of 60 emergency working night shifts.

Primary Outcome: Average number of patients per night shift.

Sample Size: The study plans to recruit several doctors with a total of 60 emergency night shifts and randomly assign them to the experimental group and the control group. One doctor can be randomized for many times.

Enrollment

60 estimated patients

Sex

All

Ages

20 to 40 years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Doctors who have a night shift in the emergency department of gynaecology with at least two weeks experience.

Exclusion criteria

Doctors who refuse to join the study

Trial design

Primary purpose

Treatment

Allocation

Randomized

Interventional model

Parallel Assignment

Masking

None (Open label)

60 participants in 2 patient groups

no apple group
Active Comparator group
Description:
No apples during night shift
Treatment:
Procedure: no apple group
apple group
Experimental group
Description:
Doctors will bring apples during night shift
Treatment:
Procedure: apple group

Trial contacts and locations

0

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Central trial contact

Kai-Lun Hu, MD

Data sourced from clinicaltrials.gov

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