Abstract:
Purpose of study: The Purpose of this research paper is to discover the difference in
alertness and mood of house officers and residents between pre call and post call duly hours
in Karachi. This was designed to see the impact of call and sleep loss on alertness and mood
of junior doctors. Sleep is essential part of human physiology and adequate sleep enables an
individual to use ones’ cognitive functions at optimum level. Physician duty requires
vigilance as error in decision taking or any part of job is life threatening not only for patient
but also for physicians as well. Alertness and vigilance is hence, an essential part of
physicians’ cognitive function. Mood may impacts decision making process.
Research Method/ Sampling: Quantitative data were collected via a structured
questionnaire that was divided in two portion. One has to be filled during pre-call and other
has to be filled during post call. The type of sampling used is non probability sampling,
where 80 questionnaires were collected from the House officers and Residents, in which they
self-reported their alertness on Stanford Sleepiness Scale. 27 questionnaires were collected to
check mood of doctors through brief version of Profile of Mood State scale having 40 items
subscale for tension, anger, depression, fatigue, confusion, vigor and self-related esteem.
Finding of the Research: There is significant difference between alertness and mood of duty
doctors, pre call and post call. There is significant change in alertness and mood of duty
doctors with normal sleep and sleep loss.
Practical Implication of the Research: The analyzes can help Ministry of Health of
Pakistan to shorten continuous call duty hours in order to get optimum benefit to patient from
House officers and Residents along with the well-being of these physicians.
