Work-related Stress and Most Common Stressors for Surgical Nurses: Stress and the stressors in surgical nurses

Abstract

Aim: The objective of this research was to determine the stress level in nurses at the Department of Surgery, Clinical Hospital Osijek, and to identify the most common stressors. Methods: The research included 105 nurses, 29 (28%) were men and 76 (72%) of them were women. It was conducted anonymously, by standardized questionnaire Occupational Stress Questionnaire for Hospital Health Care Workers. Results: The total scale of stress was 3.2 (interquartile range from 2.6 to 3.7) with no significant differences by gender. The results showed no statistically significant differences in the level of stress in terms of age, total length of service and level of education. The most common stressors in surgical nurses are insufficient number of employees, work overload, administrative work, a 24-hour responsibility, inappropriate public criticism, fear of infection, conflict with superiors, night and overtime work and pressure of set deadlines. Conclusion: The greatest stress in surgical nurses, was connected with the work organization and financial issues, and in a group of women, a large share of stress was connected with the public criticism and litigation.

Keywords

• occupational stress
• general surgery
• nurses