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Completed

NCT Number: NCT00246051

Comprehensive Police Fatigue Management Program

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. identification and treatment of police with sleep disorders; 2. caffeine re-education; and 3. 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 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 to cope with shift schedules; improve the health, safety and performance of law enforcement officers; and thereby improve public safety.

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Key information

Conditions

Sleep Disorders Apnea Chronobiology Disorders Dyssomnias Fatigue Mental Disorders Nervous System Diseases Neurologic Manifestations Occupational Diseases Parasomnias Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms Respiration Disorders Respiratory Tract Diseases Restless Legs Syndrome Signs and Symptoms Sleep Apnea Syndromes Sleep Apnea, Obstructive Sleep Disorders, Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorders, Intrinsic Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders Sleep Wake Disorders

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Boston, Massachusetts, 02115, United States

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Active Sworn Police Officers

Exclusion criteria

  • None

Treatment and study plan

Sleep Hygiene Education

Behavioral

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. Videotapes, slides, handouts and other educational material will be compiled to create a variety of information sources for police officers. Examples of materials to be incorporated into this training program would be the Operation Healthy Sleep Training Video, powerpoint created by the Harvard Work Hours, Health and Safety Group and pamphlets provided by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Expert-Led Sleep Disorders Screening and Treatment

Other

Expert-led sleep disorder screening and treatment will consist of visiting police stations and presenting an information session about Operation Healthy Sleep. The session will take place during work time. During the session, we will invite officers to take the Operation Healthy Sleep survey. All subjects that answer the survey indicating that they are at high risk on the Berlin Questionnaire will be contacted to arrange an initial appointment at our OSA research clinic. If they don't meet the criteria they will be disempanelled.

  • Positive on the Berlin Questionnaire
  • Clinic visit, exam with a physician, given a home diagnostic device (HDD)
  • High risk on HDD, seen by physician, given a CPAP machine
  • Follow up visit after 2-3 weeks, CPAP data downloaded and reviewed
  • Contacted by a sleep health clinic at 3, 6, 12 months
  • After 12 months subject will be referred to their primary care physician

Online Sleep Disorders Screening

Other

Online sleep disorder screening will be available to all police officers nation-wide through the Operation Healthy Sleep survey. All subjects that answer the survey questions indicating that they are at high risk of a sleep disorder will be notified either online following the completion of the survey or by email or a letter. Treatment and follow up will not be conducted for individuals who screen positive on the online version of the Operation Healthy Sleep survey.

Primary outcomes

  1. Motor vehicle accidents as a function of miles traveled

    Time frame: 05/2005 - 07/2009

  2. Number of on-the-job injuries

    Time frame: 05/2005 - 07/2009

  3. Number of citations issued

    Time frame: 05/2005 - 07/2009

  4. Number of arrests made

    Time frame: 05/2005 - 07/2009

  5. Number of warnings issued

    Time frame: 05/2005 - 07/2009

  6. Number of officer-initiated vehicle assists

    Time frame: 05/2005 - 07/2009

  7. Number of sick leave days

    Time frame: 05/2005 - 07/2009

  8. Sleep duration

    Time frame: 05/2005 - 07/2009

  9. Sleep quality

    Time frame: 05/2005 - 07/2009

  10. Alertness

    Time frame: 05/2005 - 07/2009

  11. Performance

    Time frame: 05/2005 - 07/2009

Secondary outcomes

  1. Job satisfaction

    Time frame: 05/2005 - 07/2009

  2. Burnout

    Time frame: 05/2005 - 07/2009

  3. Works hours

    Time frame: 05/2005 - 07/2009

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Testing the Effectiveness of a Comprehensive Fatigue Management for the Police

Important dates

Study start
2005
Primary completion
2009
Study completion
2010
First posted
Oct 31, 2005
Registry last updated
Aug 15, 2013

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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