Clinical trial NCT01739569: Effect of Healthy Lunch and Snack Meal on Reaction Time and Well-being of Physicians and Nursing Staff (Go-No-Go)
Official title: Long-term Effect of Healthy Lunch and Snack Meal on Reaction Time and Well-being: A Randomised Controlled Intervention in Physicians and Nursing Staff.
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Nutrition Intervention
Keywords: Diet treatment
Mental Health
Reaction time
State of moods
Working hours
Medical Hospital Staff
Lead sponsor: Copenhagen University Hospital at Herlev
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2012-12-03
Enrollment: 60
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 20
Maximum age (years): 70
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: CROSSOVER
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: 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.

Detailed description: 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.

Eligibility criteria: 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

Primary outcomes:
measure: Reaction-time
timeFrame: week 0, week 5 and week 9
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Dietary intake
timeFrame: Week 0, week 5, week 9
measure: Physical activity
timeFrame: Week 0, week 5, week 9
measure: Palatability of the diet eaten during working hours
timeFrame: Week 0, week 5 and week 9
measure: Well-being
timeFrame: Week 0, week 5 and week 9
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Herlev
country: Denmark
facility: EFFECT, Copenhagen University Hospital at Herlev
state: Copenhagen
Study officials:
affiliation: Copenhagen University Hospital at Herlev
name: Christian Bitz, Cand Scient
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Leedo E, Beck AM, Astrup A, Lassen AD. The effectiveness of healthy meals at work on reaction time, mood and dietary intake: a randomised cross-over study in daytime and shift workers at an university hospital. Br J Nutr. 2017 Jul;118(2):121-129. doi: 10.1017/S000711451700191X.