THE MAIN STRESSORS IN THE WORK OF NURSES

Abstract

Introduction. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), stress in the workplace has become a widespread and costly problem today, affecting about 90 % of the world’s population in all its forms. Nursing work is known to be stressful because it involves complex job requirements and demands, and high expectations, excessive responsibility, and minimal rights have been identified as major stressors.

The aim of the study – identify the main stressors in nursing and how they affect the work of a nurse.

The main part. As a research strategy, we used the literature review method to identify bibliographic, audiovisual, and electronic sources related to our topic. The American Holistic Nurses Association notes that the main factors contributing to stress in nursing practice include understaffing or workload, the nurse’s relationship with other clinical staff, leadership style and support, and addressing patients’ emotional needs. Nurses are in close contact with patients, and factors such as the place of work, the variety of hospitalized cases, labor shortages, forced overtime, and the attitude of the head of the department can create enormous stress for them. Although stress is a recognized component of modern nursing, which is beneficial in small amounts, in the long run, it initiates chronic diseases such as hypertension, leads to cardiovascular disease, and thus affects their quality of life. Due to the inevitability of some stressors in the nursing profession, it is necessary to prevent their psychological and physical effects to improve nurses’ quality of life and caregiving behavior. In general, it should be recognized that the sources of work-related stress and the level of exposure vary according to the working environment, work unit, and culture of each society, so nurses may experience different levels of work-related stress and exposure due to different working conditions and the level of support provided.

Conclusions. Our research has shown that workplace stress can jeopardize nurses’ physical and mental health, reduce energy and efficiency, and make it difficult to provide proper nursing care to patients, ultimately negatively impacting patient outcomes.