Its Effect on the Nurse

The Nursing Stress Scale: Development of an instrument

“…Although some stressful situations are specific to a particular type of hospital unit, nurses are subject to more general stress which arises from the physical, psychological, and social aspects of the work environment (Edelstein, 1966;Hay and Oken, 1972;Kornfeld, 1971;Malone, 1964;Menzies, 1960;Price and Bergen, 1977;Schulz and Aderman, 1976;Vreeland and Ellis, 1969). High levels of stress result in staff burnout (Cartwright, 1979;Freudenberger, 1974;Maslach, 1976Maslach, , 1979and turnover (Kramer, 1974; National Commission on Nursing and Nursing Education, 1970;Nichols, 1971) and adversely affect patient care (Meyer, 1962;Meyer and Mendelson, 1961;Revans, 1959).…”