Fatigue caused by extended periods of work and insufficient rest can impair job performance, situation awareness and decision-making capabilities, even when it’s needed most. Specifically, in safety-critical environments, such as responding to wildfires, fatigue has been associated with a two-fold increase in the risk of injuries and errors, and a four-fold increase in safety-compromising behaviors during emergencies.
To mitigate these outcomes, researchers at Texas A&M University are evaluating how the impact of fatigue-causing performance declines in safety-critical workers, such as firefighters, nurses and emergency room (ER) doctors, can be delayed through the use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a wearable and noninvasive brain stimulation technology that uses weak electrical currents to stimulate certain parts of the brain.