Types of behaviors and experiences at work and health condition in the group of nurses at Accident and Emergency Units

Abstract

Introduction Nursing is a profession associated with a high workload and high levels of emotional tension. The way an employee functions in a professional environment is one of the many health risks. Schaarschmid and Fischer distinguished patterns of behavior and experiences in the area of ​​professional activity. Material and Methods The study included 150 nurses employed in Hospital Emergency Departments in central Poland. The AVEM questionnaire was used to assess the types of behavior and experiences at work, and the GHQ-28 questionnaire was used to assess the general state of mental health. Results The surveyed nurses most often functioned at work according to type S - economical or B - burned out, and least frequently according to type A - overloaded. The mean severity of health abnormalities was at the average level of M = 4.72 sten (SD = 1.56). The surveyed nurses did not reveal any depressive disorders, the most common health problems were social functioning disorders and complaints about somatic ailments. There were significant differences in health between nurses working in a healthy, economical or burned-out manner, especially in the experienced anxiety and insomnia as well as in the scope of depressive symptoms. Individuals functioning in accordance with type B – burned-out significantly more often complained of perceived anxiety and sleep problems than individuals functioning in accordance with type G - healthy. The analyzes showed that the intensification of complaints about the health condition can be inferred from lower education, low perfectionism in the performance of professional tasks and an increased tendency to resign in the event of failure. Conclusion Employers should conduct an individual analysis of the types of work behavior in the group of nurses in order to eliminate factors contributing to the deterioration of their health condition.