Do nurses feel stressed? A perspective from primary  health care.
This study describes nurses' experiences of stress in primary healthcare settings, and examines correlations between stress and personal factors. There were 187 nurses from 18 public primary care centers participating, drawn from one county of Lithuania. The Expanded Nursing Stress Scale was used to evaluate the study data. The study indicates that in primary healthcare centers, nurses working with adult patients experienced less stress than those working with younger patients. The most frequently reported stressors were those related to death and dying, and conflicts with physicians and patients and their families. In particular, older nurses more frequently experienced stress related to death and dying. The intensity of nurses' stress in conflict situations with physicians was related to age, however, the depth of work experience in the healthcare setting was more influential. Findings indicate that more detailed research is needed regarding stress experiences in primary health care, and especially the related impact of the social contexts involved in the setting.
Nijolė
N
Galdikien
Paula
P
Asikainen
Sigitas
S
Balčiūnas
Tarja
T
Suominen
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D003657:Decision Making; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008097:Lithuania; D008875:Middle Aged; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D064689:Nurses, Public Health / Q000523:psychology*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D019555:Physician-Nurse Relations; D011320:Primary Health Care; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D011361:Professional Competence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D000078329:Workforce; D016526:Workload