VNJ Volume 39 (1) February 2024 | Page 33

Plus-Hex CLINICAL

Materials and methods

Convenience sampling was used to select participants from the VSs , VNs and student VNs at one veterinary practice . Participants needed to be scheduled for both on-call night and day shifts consecutively at the practice . Selecting a sample from one practice prevented deviation in workloads and patterns , and allowed ease of access to veterinary professionals while working within Covid-19 restrictions .

A testing sequence was devised by adapting the CANTAB Cognitive Safety Phase 1 Battery Appendix A and the Bruininks Motor Ability Test ( BMAT ) [ 37 , 38 ] . Prior to each battery , the participants logged how many hours they were awake during the previous night ; for example : hours awake , for the purpose of work , between 21:30 and 07:30 , which included phone calls , necessary administration , travel and consultation time . The same researcher monitored and measured all participants ( Table 1 ) and testing was conducted in a meeting room within the veterinary practice early in the morning , during allocated administration time , to avoid circadian rhythms affecting the results [ 4 ] . In order to gain fully informed consent , the participants were made aware of the hypothesis ; thus this was not a blind test , which may have caused some unconscious bias in the study participants [ 39 ] .

Data were collected over 4 weeks in December 2020 , concluding with 35 datasets from nine female participants , which were transferred to an Excel spreadsheet and coded for analysis with SPSS version 26 software . Results were categorised as ‘ little sleep lost ’ ( 0 – 4 hours lost ) or ‘ large amounts of sleep lost ’ ( 4.1 + hours lost ) based on NHS guidance on sleep requirements [ 40 ] . A Wilcoxon signed rank test was performed on each test in the battery to look for significant changes in each individual ' s cognitive and fine motor functions . Participants were compared to their own performance relative to amounts of sleep rather than to a notional ‘ normal ’ value , to track changes in each individual ' s abilities .

Table 1 . Testing battery used for the study , based on the CANTAB and BMAT [ 37 , 38 ] .

Test Equipment Method Reaction time

Manual dexterity

Balance

Pair-associated learning

KINOEE metal stopwatch timer ; standard metre rule

15 × 5p coins ; KINOEE metal stopwatch timer

KINOEE metal stopwatch timer

Cheatwell Games 12636 snap cards ; KINOEE metal stopwatch timer

A ruler was dropped from just above the participant ' s hand , and the participant was asked to catch it as soon as possible . This was repeated three times and an average distance measurement was taken . Reaction time = √ ( 2 d / g ), where d = distance measured on the ruler in metres and g = the gravitational constant , 9.81m / s 2 .

Participants were timed stacking 15 coins into 3 stacks of 5 coins

Participants were asked to stand on one leg for up to 1 minute . They were timed for how long they managed to balance without needing to steady themselves on any object or replace their foot on the floor .

The cards were spread out , face down on the table in a random pattern . Participants were asked to play snap until all the cards were matched .

Fine motor speed / accuracy

Leaf template from printabletreats . com ; KINOEE metal stopwatch timer

Participants were asked to cut out a leaf shape from an A4 sheet of paper while being timed . Accuracy was assessed on a scale where 1 = good , 2 = fair and 3 = poor .

Coordination

Grip strength

Standard-sized tennis ball ; standard metre rule

Camry Digital Hand Dynamometer 200 lb / 90 kg

A ball was thrown to participants from a distance of 1 metre , which they were asked to catch with only one hand . This was attempted five times .

Participants were asked to grasp the dynamometer three times , as hard as they could , and an average grip strength measurement was taken .

Volume 39 ( 1 ) • February 2024

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