The knowledge gap between day and night shift nurses and the effect of digital self-paced learning. A survey questionnaire-based study

Background Night shift nurses (NSN) have fewer resources, need to cope with lack of concentration, more fatigue, and often, fewer staff than during the day. Methods A prospective questionnaire-based survey of nurses in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units, including all nursing staff. The nurses chose the correct response from validated multiple-choice answers to 5 questions about respiratory diseases in the newborn. Group A was made up of Day-shift working nurses (DSN), and Group B was made up of Night-shift nurses (NSN). Results DSN had a higher % of correct responses in the initial assessment (82.4 vs. 70.7, p = 0.02) but no difference in the post-intervention evaluation (86.5 vs. 83.7, p = 0.36). NSN improved the % of correct responses from 70.7% to 83.7%, p = 0.005, 95% CI 3.9–21.5, adjusted for the years of experience. Conclusion and relevance: A knowledge gap between DSN and NSN was bridged by informal self-paced digital learning.