A comparison of frequency and sources of nursing job stress perceived by intensive care, hospice and medical-surgical nurses.
This study compared the frequency and sources of nursing job stress perceived by 35 intensive care (ICU), 30 hospice and 73 medical-surgical nurses. Analysis of variance revealed no significant differences among the three groups of nurses on the overall frequency of job stress. Post-hoc Tukey tests demonstrated a significant difference in three stress subscales among the three groups. ICU and hospice nurses perceived significantly more stress than medical-surgical nurses related to death and dying; ICU and medical-surgical nurses perceived significantly more stress than hospice nurses related to floating; and medical-surgical nurses perceived significantly more stress than ICU and hospice nurses related to work-overload/staffing. Spearman-Rank Correlation revealed no significant correlations among the three groups in their rank-ordering of the eight stress subscales. Death and dying situations were the most stressful to ICU and hospice nurses, while work-overload/staffing situations were the most stressful to medical-surgical nurses. Results of the study, although not generalizable, have implications for nurse managers.
University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Nursing, Omaha.
M J
MJ
Foxall
L
L
Zimmerman
R
R
Standley
B
B
Bené
D000328:Adult; D001293:Attitude to Death; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006738:Hospices; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D007388:Internal Medicine; D007587:Job Description; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology* / Q000600:supply & distribution; D013527:Perioperative Nursing; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires