The Impact of Fatigue on Clinical Decision-Making Accuracy in Healthcare Professionals

Abstract

Fatigue among health professionals dramatically affects decision-making accuracy—a critical threat to patient safety. This literature review will discuss how fatigue influences clinical decision-making for safety-critical roles, structured based on three objectives: understanding the relationship between fatigue levels and accuracy in decisions, identifying the key factors contributing to healthcare professional fatigue, and assessing the effectiveness of the currently applied fatigue mitigation strategies in error reduction. It does a systematic review of various studies showing that cognitive impairment in the form of reduced vigilance and slower response times can adversely affect clinical judgment owing to fatigue. Long shifts, heavy workloads, and stressful work environments are all facilitative factors employed in discussing how they help enhance fatigue among healthcare workers. It concludes by reviewing interventions, such as improved shift scheduling and specific programs focused on fatigue management, to outline how these might help reduce fatigue's negative impact on decision-making. This review provides evidence-based insights to guide policies and practices toward bettering decision-making accuracy and improving patient safety in healthcare by tackling the prevalent problem of fatigue.