Effect of Healthy Lunch and Snack Meal on Reaction Time and Well-being of Physicians and Nursing Staff (Go-No-Go)

Copenhagen University Hospital at Herlev60 enrolled

Overview

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of increased availability of healthy food and drink during working hours on reaction time and well-being in physicians and nursing staff. Hospital medical staff often works long and hectic hours, without adequate meal or rest breaks in order to provide 24-hour care. This is a concern, as not only the staff's well-being is important to the individual welfare, but it is also vital to the quality and safety of the care their patients receive. The investigators believe that by focusing on physicians and nursing staffs nutrition the investigators will see a positive effect on staff performance and well-being - and thus ultimately possibly on patient safety. Hypothesis: The provision of healthy lunch and snack meal during working hours for a period of 4 weeks will improve reaction time and well-being compared to habitual diet in physicians, nurses and nursing assistants.

The study is designed as a randomised controlled 2 x 4 weeks cross-over trial, initiated with a 1-week run-in period. The study sample will consist of 60 volunteer physicians, nurses and nursing assistants from Herlev University Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark. A healthy lunch and snack meal meeting the current danish diet recommendations will be delivered daily during all working days in the intervention period. During the control period, the participants are requested to maintain their habitual dietary intake at work. Reaction time will be assessed by reaction time test Go/No-Go, a subtest of Test-battery for Attention Performance. Changes in mood will be measured by the Profile of Mood State questionnaire. In addition, dietary intake, level of physical activity and palatability of the intervention diet will be registered.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 20 YearsMax age: 70 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Employed in Herlev University Hospital as physician, nurse or nursing assistant (males and females) * Age 20-70 years * BMI 18,5-30 kg/m2 * Work at least 30 h/wk * Have daily contact with patients and/or have responsibilities that may affect patient safety * Primarily work in day- or evening shifts during the study period * Not having any intentions of loosing weight or changing lifestyle habits during the study period * Not suffer from any diseases that might affect dietary intake (e.g. food allergies, food intolerance) * Not dine in the staff canteen, the Diastole, more than once a week * Be able to write and understand the Danish language Exclusion Criteria: * For those working \>35 h/wk having holiday/ time off duty for more than 9 consecutive days during the study period. * For those working \<35 h/wk having holiday/time off duty for more than 5 consecutive days during the study period * Not to be able to attend the planned tests in the study * Pregnancy * Intensive physical exercise (e.g. strength training) \> 5 hours/wk * Suffer from food allergies or - intolerance

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Reaction-time

Differences in reaction-time, as measured by the reaction time test Go/No-Go, a subtest of Test-battery for Attentional Performance from baseline (week 0) to week 4 in the intervention period and week 4 in the control period.

Time frame: week 0, week 5 and week 9

Secondary Outcomes

Dietary intake

Differences in dietary intake with respect to macronutrient composition, meal pattern and choice of food items measured by self-reported records during 4 working days using a standardized dietary record form

Time frame: Week 0, week 5, week 9

Physical activity

Differences in 24-hours physical activity measured by self-reported records during four working days using a standardized physical activity record form.

Time frame: Week 0, week 5, week 9

Palatability of the diet eaten during working hours

Differences in palatability of the intervention diet compared to the control diet measured by scores using a specific and standardized Visual Analouge Scale (VAS-scores).

Time frame: Week 0, week 5 and week 9

Well-being

Differences in selfreported well-being, as measured by the POMS Questionaire (McNair et.al. Manual of the Profile of Mood States. San Diego:Educational and Industrial Testing Service;1981) form baseline (week 0) to week 4 in the intervention period and week 4 in the control period.