STRESS: NURSES PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE IN NEONATAL ICUS (INTENSIVE CARE UNIT)

Abstract

This exploratory descriptive research aimed to identify the causes of stress that affect nurses working in neonatal intensive care units; to recognize the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that interfere in nurses biological and emotional conditions; to know if work conditions interfere in the caring process. Eight nurses participated in the research, answering a questionnaire, and 62% considered themselves to be stressed, being the afternoon shift the most stressful. Nurses, as a rule, dedicate five hours a week to leisure and have eight hours of daily sleep. All the participants presented stress symptoms, such as: memory loss, anorexia, overeating, concentration difficulty, insomnia, sleepiness, tiredness and irritability. For 87% of them those symptoms interfere in the caring process.Tearful newborns, inform family about patients worsening or death, administrative tasks, shortage of material and human resources contribute to stress. It can be concluded that the environment in neonatal intensive care units is stressful. It is suggested that these professionals verbalize their anxiety in order to achieve self-relief.

Keywords

• Stress
• Nursing
• Newborn ICU