Comprehensive Police Fatigue Management Program

Official Title: “Testing the Effectiveness of a Comprehensive Fatigue Management for the Police”

Police officers work some of the most demanding schedules known, which increases their risk of sleep deprivation and sleep disorders. The need to work frequent overnight shifts and long work weeks leads to acute and chronic partial sleep deprivation as well as misalignment of circadian phase. The public expects officers to perform flawlessly, but sleep deprivation and unrecognized sleep disorders significantly degrade cognition, alertness, reaction time and performance. In addition, both acute and chronic sleep deprivation adversely affect personal health, increasing the risk of gastrointestinal and heart disease, impairing glucose metabolism, and substantially increasing the risk of injury due to motor vehicle crashes.

We propose to conduct a randomized, prospective study of the effect on the safety, health, and performance of a police department of a Comprehensive Police Fatigue Management Program (CPFMP) consisting of the following interventions:

1. scheduling improvements and policy developments to mitigate the adverse effects of extended duration work shifts and long work weeks;

2. identification and treatment of police with sleep disorders;

3. caffeine re-education; and

4. initiation of a sleep, health and safety educational program.

These interventions were chosen because we believe them most likely to lead to measurable improvements on work hours, health, safety, and job performance, and because they are cost effective. The success of the CPFMP will be assessed through an experimental comparison with a standard treatment group that will receive sleep education in the absence of any accompanying interventions. The overall goal of our team will be to develop and test the implementation of policy and scheduling improvements and a sleep health detection and treatment program that can be disseminated to practitioners, policymakers and researchers nationwide to reduce police officer fatigue and stress; enhance the ability of officers and their families to cope with shift schedules; improve the health, safety and performance of law enforcement officers; and thereby improve public safety.

Intervention(s) in this Clinical Trial

• Behavioral: Sleep Hygiene Education
  • An education program, consisting of materials from experts in the field of fatigue management, will be provided to all police officers in the intervention group and their families. Videotapes, slides, handouts and other educational material will be compiled to create a variety of information sources for police officers and families. Examples of materials to be incorporated into this training program would be the 'Health and Safety' pamphlet (Circadian Technologies), the 'Shiftwork Training Video' and the training CD-ROM entitled 'Awake at the Wheel' (Alertness Solutions), and a take-home booklet entitled 'Living Well with Shiftwork' (Dr. Richard Coleman).
• Procedure: Sleep Disorders Screening and Treatment
  • If they don't meet the criteria they will be disempanelled. If + on the Berlin they will be given an appt. If they meet OSA criteria they will use an OSA device & will be asked to see the techs. Then given a 2nd clinic in 1-2 weeks. Officers will see a Dr who will review the report. If they meet 1 or more of the criteria they will be referred for CPAP. If need treatment they will be prescribed (CPAP) therapy. Officers given a 3rd clinic visit in 2-3 weeks. Staff will collect weight, bp & pulse. Data from the device will be downloaded & reviewed by the techs. If needed, a 4th follow-up visit may be scheduled. A nurse at SHC will be available for help for the rest of the study. The nurse, will evaluate whether further follow-up is needed. Officers who continue to have problems will be monitored for up to 3 months. They will be contacted by SHC at approx 3, 6 & 12 months. After 12 months, the study will be ended & the patient referred to their PCP.

Primary Measures

• Motor vehicle accidents as a function of miles traveled
• Number of on-the-job injuries
• Number of citations issued
• Number of arrests made
• Number of warnings issued
• Number of officer-initiated vehicle assists
• Number of sick leave days
• Sleep duration
• Sleep quality
• Alertness
• Performance

Secondary Measures

• Job satisfaction
• Burnout
• Works hours

Inclusion Criteria:

• Active Sworn Police Officers

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Gender Eligibility for this Clinical Trial: Both

Minimum Age for this Clinical Trial: 18 Years

Maximum Age for this Clinical Trial: N/A

Are Healthy Volunteers Accepted for this Clinical Trial?: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Lead Investigator: Brigham and Women's Hospital Other

Overall Clinical Trial Officials and Contacts

Charles A. Czeisler, Ph.D., M.D. Principal Investigator Brigham and Women's Hospital  

Information obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov on February 12, 2012

Link to the current ClinicalTrials.gov record. http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT00246051

Study ID Number: SL00067

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00246051

Health Authority: United States: Institutional Review Board