OCCUPATIONAL STRESS OF NURSES IN SUNTRESO GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL

Abstract

Stress has been recognized as an important feature of the work life of nurses, and growing evidence suggest that it may be increasing in severity (Lee 2003). Work-related stress has been identified as a major contributing factor to growing job dissatisfaction, rapid turnover, and high attrition rates among nurses. Stress has also been found to impact not only on nurses’ health but also their abilities to cope with job demands. This seriously impairs the provision of quality care and the efficacy of health care delivery. The study explored the impact of stress on the work output of the nurses and their ability to deliver quality healthcare services. The study revealed that, all the nurses had experienced stress before and were able to state signs and symptoms of stress which included insomnia, headache, confusion, pyrexia and lack of appetite and less eating. The study revealed that there are numerous stressors in the hospital which included inadequate staff, work overload, lifting of heavy patients, long hours of work and shift work. As a result, some nurses made mistakes on the job and also, stress undermined the relationship existing among members of the healthcare team leading to confrontations. Different coping strategies were adopted by respondents to cope with stress and these included listening to music, watching television, playing football, eating less among others.