engleski

Occupational Stress of Healthcare Workers

Brief outline of context: Setting was general hospital. All staff with high school, junior college, and college/medical school worked in hospital at the time of the study were invited to participate (N=875). All departments and units were included (N=14). Data were collected in 2006. Brief outline of problem: In the last few years there has been growing concern about reports of high risk of stress, burnout, and role conflict and job dissatisfaction among health care workers. The analyses of the medical practice in hospitals showed that hospitals are one of the most stressful workplace. It has been found that occupational stress can have harmful consequences on the quality of health care and patients&#8217; safety Assessment of problem and analysis of its causes: Data were collected using two questionnaires: Occupational Stress Assessment Questionnaire for health care workers, which was created by us for this purpose, standardised and adjusted to conditions in hospital health care system ; and Work Ability Index (WAI) Questionnaire, a standardized instrument developed for the assess work ability. Participants were asked to grade the 37 stressors using the Likert Scale (1-5 points). The scale had 5 scoring points (1=&#8221; not stressful at all&#8221; to 5=&#8221; extremely stressful&#8221; ). Levels of certain occupational stressors have been determined by percentage of points 4-5. Total response rate was 30% (263/875). Of the analysed participants, there were 82 physicians (41 females, 41 males) ; the median age was 48 (range 26-65), and 181 nurses/technicians (164 females, 17 males) ; the median age was 41 (range 18-60). As a main stressors physicians recognised: inadequate working environment (90%), inadequate resources to work with (90%), inadequate income (85%), work overload (70%), incorrectly informed patients (85%), and lack of co-workers (65%). Nurses recognised as a main stressors: inadequate income and resources to work with (65%), inadequate working environment (65%), incurable patients (60%), lack of co-workers (60%), workload (50%), and fear of infections (50%). Median of Work Ability Index (WAI) was 38.5 (range 34-45) for physicians. Median WAI of nurses was 37.7 (range 37-39). There no differences between medians of nurses and physicians but among physicians there was difference between specialities (P<0.05). At that moment, the hospital had a building under construction. That could be the reason that one of the stressor was &#8220; inadequate working environment&#8221; . Croatia is a transition country and resources to work with and workers income is a topic in a public health care sector. Organisational changes could improve work condition caused by the lack of co-workers and workload, and the education could decrease the fear of infection among nurses. Strategy for change: The meting were organised with the management of the hospital and with all of heads of the departments (physicians and nurses). Our results were presented. Discussion was about main stressors among hospital staff. The lessons and workshops for health care workers about stress at work. will be organised by the management. Menagement will implement the proposed changing and invite us to repet the study in a two or three years. Measurement of improvement: Improvements will be measured with the same methods. Lessons learnt: Communications between physicians, nurses, occupational health specialists and management is important for improve the quality of care they provide in hospitals. Education of the staff about stress at work, and its&#8217; consequences on work ability and quality of health care is important. Message for others: Health and satisfied health care workers are an important for provide quality and safety at work.

Stress; Healthcare Staff; Quality; Safety

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