Experiences of Occupational Stress among Emergency Nurses at Private Hospitals in Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract

Introduction: Occupational stress has negative effects on employee's health and organizational productivity. Nurses in emergency department are more exposed to stress than nurses in other departments. Aim: To explore nurses' experiences of occupational stress in emergency departments in private hospitals in Bangkok, Thailand. Design: A descriptive qualitative design, with a deductive approach based on the Job Demand-Control-Support model was used. Methods: Fifteen emergency department nurses at two different hospitals were interviewed and the data were analyzed using a manifest content analysis. Results: Three main categories: "work context is an issue", "consequences of reactions to stress", and "coping with work stress", including seven sub-categories emerged from the data analysis. Conclusion: The patients' and their relatives' behaviors were experienced as the primary stressor at the private hospital, in addition to excessive work tasks. Other important stressors were misunderstanding and conflicts between emergency department nurses and the other health care professionals, presumably related to hierarchy and power relations between health care professions. Creating a better working environment and a balance between the number of patients and nurses would reduce workload and stress, encourage ED nurses to stay in the profession and ultimately maintain patient safety.

Investigating Occupational Stress of Disaster and Emergency Medical Management Center 115 and the Role of Demographic Variables in Kermanshah, Iran

“…reached quite similar results and stated that there was no relationship between work experience and occupational stress among emergency medical technicians, but in work experience of more than 20 years, the sum of scores of stressors was higher [14]. Yuwanich et al [15] stated that low experience and work experience are related to occupational stress of nurses in emergency medical services and Bardhan et al similarly indicated that work experience less than 10 years is a strong risk factor of higher occupational stress in nurses, which is somewhat consistent with the present study [27]. On the other hand, d'Ettorre et al considered work experience related to occupational stress in burses of emergency medical services [8].…”

“…In other words, the physical, mental, and intellectual stressors cause the emergency medical technicians to be exposed at high risk, such as accidents, errors, and other injuries to persons (6). The clear examples of symptoms of occupational stress include insomnia, distraction, anxiety, absenteeism, depression, fatigue, excessive frustration, family problems, and physical problems such as heart disease, migraines, headaches, indigestion, and disc herniation between the lumbar vertebrae [15]. Increasing working hours causes the increase of conflict in occupational and family tasks which can lead to occupational stress [15].…”

“…The clear examples of symptoms of occupational stress include insomnia, distraction, anxiety, absenteeism, depression, fatigue, excessive frustration, family problems, and physical problems such as heart disease, migraines, headaches, indigestion, and disc herniation between the lumbar vertebrae [15]. Increasing working hours causes the increase of conflict in occupational and family tasks which can lead to occupational stress [15]. The rotating nature of work shifts of emergency medical technicians gives little opportunity to adapt to sleep patterns that can lead to the disruption in mental health [16].…”

Associação da expressão circadiana do cortisol de enfermeiros segundo trabalho em turnos, estresse ocupacional e fadiga

“…Procedimento para coletar a saliva com o tubo Salivette: (LU et al, 2015;PRADO, 2016;YUWANICH et al, 2017;ÇELIK et al, 2017;SALVAGIONI et al, 2017;NICOLAIDES et al, 2017;AKBAR et al, 2017). Silveira et al (2009) SOUZA et al, 2009;SILVEIRA et al, 2009;KLEINUBING et al, 2013 LOPES, 2008;URBANETTO et al, 2011;SALVAGIONI et al, 2017;NICOLAIDES et al, 2017).…”

“…Silveira et al (2009) SOUZA et al, 2009;SILVEIRA et al, 2009;KLEINUBING et al, 2013 LOPES, 2008;URBANETTO et al, 2011;SALVAGIONI et al, 2017;NICOLAIDES et al, 2017). Esses dados da literatura, bem como os encontrados neste estudo, evidenciam que pouco vem sendo feito para sanar ou minimizar o surgimento do estresse entre profissionais de enfermagem, uma vez que estudos atuais (LU et al, 2015;PRADO, 2016;YUWANICH et al, 2017;ÇELIK et al, 2017;SALVAGIONI et al, 2017;NICOLAIDES et al, 2017;AKBAR et al, 2017) apresentam resultados semelhante aos obtidos há mais de 10 anos (KAGEYAMA et al, 2001;PAFARO;MARTINO, 2004;BATISTA;BIANCHI, 2006).…”