The nurses move through several watch systems as casualties rise and fatigue becomes dangerous. SS Uganda was a converted liner rather than a purpose-built hospital ship, so its medical staff lacked some of the space a dedicated design could provide for recovery. A wartime hospital ship concentrates accident-and-emergency and critical-care pressures inside the same vessel where the staff live. With almost no physical separation between duty and rest, a nominal four-hour break does not provide enough time to unwind and sleep, forcing a shift to four hours on and eight hours off.
Chapter · 28:51-32:43
Hospital-ship watchkeeping has to make room for recovery
Uganda's medical staff repeatedly revise their watches because four hours off is not enough to decompress, sleep, and remain clinically effective.