Compliments to the Reinier de Graaf hospital from Delft, for the way it helps employees to get Healthier through the night. Such good news that the hospital is facilitating a powernap or a moment of rest for all personnel.
Although we can’t fully solve the problems stemming from night work. However with the right care and attention, we cán however “soften” the nights and help people work through their nightshift in better health.
Healthier through the night
‘Employee in first place” (“Medewerker op 1” in Dutch) is a very important part of the strategy of the Reinier de Graaf hospital. This hospital, located in Delft, has it’s own vitalityprogram named Vitaal@Reinier. It consists of several different themes and is meant for all employees.
“When our employees feel good, they can provide the best possible care to our patients. Because care is non-stop, 24/7, we at the RDG are committed to making our (care)employees feel good both mentally and physically.
Dedicate attention to night-shifts
Working night-shifts is an integral part of work for a lot of employees in any hospital. To remain vital during those shifts, working healthy in the night is a very important part of the overall program. The “Healthier through the night” program has been initiated by Charlotte Kwaak, who works as a Work & Health advisor at the Reinier de Graaf Gasthuis in Delft. A dedicated workshop was organized, including amongst others a presentation by dr. Kasper Janssen.
The program dubbed Healthier through the night pays attention to several topics, such as;
- What can you do if your work-schedule goes against the biological clock?
- How to prioritize sleep?
- How and what to do with nutrition?
- What exactly is a powernap?
A moment of rest is a very important intervention.
A powernap is a good intervention for nightwork and an excellent source of recovery. It is also very do-able at the workplace. However, multiple different forms of recovery are possible. For example, a moment’s rest without sleep but still being fully relaxed is also a good form of short recovery and to get back to work re-energized.
Kasper Janssen uses an insightful infographic (see below, in Dutch) to show how napping at work works and what kind of benefits it has.
Some useful tips from the RDG for healthy working @ night:
- Have you finished your nightshift and do you want to go to sleep immediately?
Try having a breakfast first. By eating something first before catching up with your night’s rest, you could sleep longer and better because you want wake up hungry.
- Take a 10 to 20 minute-long powernap if you feel your concentration slips or your level of alertness drops.
- When done with a series of nightshifts, try to get back to your normal rhythm as soon as possible.
After you finish your last shift, sleep for about 3 to max. 4,5 hours.
Source: read more about the whole Vitaal@Reinier program in the article at the official website of the RDG hospital op Linkedin post van Kasper Janssen.
Inquire about the possibilities
Would you like to know more about recovery-facilities at your work, or know more about our Fit through the night projects? Feel free to get in touch, we are happy to share our knowlegde and experience. Aside from health-care, we also work for other branches that use (night) shift workers.
Contact
Please feel free to reach out to us by e-mail or call us at +31 (0)344 571444.