The administrative assistant for the School of Social and Behavioral Studies, Rachel Pierinelli, has conducted research with the graduate psychology program to research Mercy students in the medical field experiencing sleep deprivation and burnout.

Students in the nursing field are finishing their studies and heading into a field that focuses on physical health: the physical mind and anything of that nature to help people. The nursing field at Mercy has been very tough for a long time. A demanding field that makes those have a lot to handle on their plates. Whether it is dealing with academics, work, or the overall semester, nursing majors need more sleep. Yet future nurses cannot become the best versions of themselves when not caring for their bodies. Sleep deprivation has been an issue for students.

Studies have shown that at least 60 percent to 85 percent of students have fallen victim to sleep deprivation due to the overload they have to handle, causing students to fail to get the amount of proper sleep and have problems dealing with enough sleep. Burnouts can happen to these students due to the amount of work they are pushing to get done.

It impacts their overall health and well-being for many reasons. The more it is discussed, the more students can succumb to mood changes, increased mental fatigue, inadequate sleep, and poor performance in any task they take upon themselves.

Mercy University Graduate Michael Quelhas, whom Pierinelli has assigned to find studies on sleep deprivation/burnouts, has been researching the research, finding answers on why he feels it has affected students.

Quelhas said,” The purpose of my research is to see if those who are studying to enter the medical field experience burnout and sleep deprivation more than those who are not learning the field.”

Quelhas also stated, “The message of the research is to reveal how many students are experiencing burnout and sleep deprivation and to see which may experience it worse, which could raise awareness.”

The Mercy student doing his research has stated that he feels the main reason students in the nursing field experience sleep deprivation and burnout is the number of things overflowing on them. Students have many responsibilities to focus on after school. Students deal with work. Dealing with any other duties around them, it becomes harder for them to have a moment to cool down. This is already as difficult as it is when being a student, but it will become much more complicated for nursing primary students when they get into the working field.

“The research focuses on the stress and amount of work students are given. These are very tedious tasks students must handle. The outside environment becomes a distraction for them. This research would benefit me by giving me a perspective on those studying and could bring light and potential change to the education provided, even if it stands small.”

Burnout is caused by the student becoming overwhelmed with no real opportunities to recover due to the outside world, such as too many assignments after class or an overload of jobs, tests, and daily stressors in class.

Michael Quelhas’s thoughts and goals about the research are straightforward. The student wants an answer to figure out a solution to this problem. With the research still going on, the student has continued and wants to make sure there can be a solution. The purpose of students in such a demanding field dealing with sleeping burnout is a problem no one should deal with.

“My goal for the research is to shed light on sleep deprivation and burnout, and I wanted to focus more on the medical field because they will be going into a field designed to help a person’s physical health. I believe it’s important to show if students are still struggling with sleep and burnout because those factors can cause many aspects to become worse than they should be. It’s unfair that with what I discovered, a large percentile of students do not get substantial sleep.” 

In the final step of his research, Quelhas stated that no difference has been made between sleep deprivation and burnout for students. He has since found out that it still goes on, saying that “it did show a large percentage of experience between sleep deprivation and burnouts.”

Being a student can become a task, and with your many responsibilities, students will become drained. However, it becomes more challenging in the nursing field, and with research still going on, as the graduate student said, “change will come.”