Biomathematical models to mitigate fatigue and fatigue-related risks in emergency medical services operations: effects are uncertain
Citation: James FO, Waggoner LB, Weiss PM, et al. Does implementation of biomathematical models mitigate fatigue and fatigue-related risks in emergency medical services operations? A systematic review. Prehospital emergency care. 2018 Feb 15;22(sup1):69-80
What is this? The COVID-19 pandemic is placing a strain on healthcare workers. Existing research on the use of biomathematical models to estimate the effects of fatigue on performance and to identify fatigue-related safety risks may provide useful information for policy makers.
In this systematic review, the authors searched for quantitative studies of the effects of biomathematical models to help mitigate fatigue and fatigue-related risks in healthcare workers in emergency medical services or other shift workers. They searched for articles published between January 1980 and September 2016. They included 1 study with a before-and-after design, which included workers in commercial trucking industry included and was published in 2004. This study provided very low certainty evidence.
What was found: The one eligible study supports using biomathematical models as a fatigue mitigation strategy, but is of very low certainty.
The effects of using biomathematical modeling to try to mitigate fatigue and fatigue-related risks in emergency medical services operations are uncertain.
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