Evaluation of the attention level in health care workers

Attention is one of the most significant cognitive abilities on a daily basis and even more so in health care workers due to the immediate responsibility they have over other people. On the other hand, healthcare workers have extended working hours and shift work, which can lead to cognitive fatigue due to work intensity and little time for restful sleep. Due to this problem, we decided to analyze four subjects who were the project's authors in their daily attention in 5 days using the PC-PVT software, which allowed us to evaluate awareness and speed of response to a visual stimulus. In addition, three variables were inserted, which at the beginning of the study were considered essential and could affect attention: the hours of sleep per day, the number of cups of coffee per day, and the minutes of physical activity per day. The four subjects kept their logbook with data on these four variables. At the end of the five days of measurement, the data were extracted from the software, and the mean, median, and standard deviation of the results were analyzed for each subject, concluding that the present study cannot establish relationships between variables. However, it provides the basis for generating protocols for future, more robust experiments that seek to evaluate the relationship between shift work that alters the circadian cycle and cognitive functions.