Differences in Heart Rate and Galvanic Skin Response among Nurses Working in Critical and Non-critical Care Units

Abstract

Introduction: Health care environment usually remains stressful for health care professionals which may have impact on their psycho-physiological health. Aim: This study was conducted to find the differences in Heart Rate (HR) and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) among critical and non-critical care unit nurses. Materials and Methods: A comparative study was conducted to find the differences in HR and GSR value of nurses posted in critical and non-critical units. Critical and non-critical care units were classified using patient’s acuity category classification. A total of 100 nurses, 50 from critical and 50 from non-critical care units were selected by simple random sampling technique. HR and GSR were recorded on a digital polygraph (Medicaid systems). Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. Results: The mean heart rate (beats per minute) and GSR (Amp ~ K) score of nurses working in critical care units (88.32±9.63 and 916.9±473.4) was higher than the nurses working in noncritical units (83.56±5.82 and 687.8±270.0). The difference in the scores of critical care unit nurses were significantly higher than the non-critical unit nurses (p<0.001). Conclusion: Present study revealed that work environment has great role in the physiological health of nurses.

Keywords

• autonomic functions
• burnout
• health care professional
• hospital setting
• work related stress