Performance Nutrition for Residents and Fellows

Stanford University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Cognitive Function; Shift-Work Related Sleep Disturbance; Physician Well-being; Diet Habit; Sleep Deprivation; Diet Modification

Treatments: Other: Dietary Modification

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03698123

45690

Details and patient eligibility

About

Currently, residents commonly experience dehydration and poor nutrition during nighttime duty hours as a result of heavy work load, lack of time to take nutrition and hydration breaks, or limited or no access to healthy food and drinks which may affect residents' work performance. The goal of this study is to compare the effects of two different meal compositions with no typical dietary practices (existing conditions) on work performance of the on-call residents during night shifts.

Full description

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of dietary modifications on resident physicians' work performance during night shifts.

Specific objectives are:

1. To assess the effects of macronutrient composition of the test meals on cognitive performance, self-reported sleepiness and fatigue of resident physicians during night-time duty.
2. To compare to no intervention, the effects of providing meals before 22:00 hours, and only providing chewing gum, tea, coffee and water onwards to on-call residents, on cognitive performance, self-reported sleepiness and fatigue of resident physicians during night-time duty.

Enrollment: 61 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 21+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• All residents and fellows performing in hospital overnight work
• Must be able to eat plant source foods (e.g. soy, nuts, seeds) and animal source foods (e.g. meat, eggs, dairy products)

Exclusion criteria

• Food allergies or sensitivities
• Prior anaphylactic reaction to food
• Strict dietary restrictions (e.g. vegan, gluten free)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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61 participants in 1 patient group

Dietary Modification

Experimental group

Description:

On the first night of the study, participants can eat and drink as they normally would (no dietary intervention). On second and third nights participants will be provided meals, snacks and drinks with specific macronutrient composition, encouraged to only eat and drink study meals, snacks and drinks, and to avoid eating after 10:00 hours. The composition of the study foods and drinks on nights 2 and 3 will be different.

Treatment:

Other: Dietary Modification