title: Organizational factors impacting job strain and mental quality of life in emergency and critical care units.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study measures the association between hospital staff's job strain (JS), mental quality of life (MQL) and how they are influenced by the organization models within emergency and critical care units.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study describes workers employed in emergency departments and intensive care units of a French public hospital. A selfadministered questionnaire was used to survey the demographic and organizational characteristics of their work, as well as work-related mental stress, psychosocial and organizational constraints, and their MQL.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 145 workers participating in the study, 59.3% of them report job strain and 54.5% of them have low MQL scores. The majority of staff with job strain has reported working more than 2 weekends per month, were regularly on-call, worked in dysfunctional environments and did not participate in regular meetings. The staff with low MQL worked more frequently in dysfunctional environments, had significant complaints regarding employer's efforts to promote communications or provide adequate staffing levels than the workers with a high MQL score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  If stress reduction and improved MQL in emergency and intensive care units is to be achieved, hospital management needs to design work schedules that provide a better balance between working and non-working hours. Additionally, ergonomic design, functional environments and improved communications needs to be implemented.
authors.affiliation: APHM, Groupe Hospitalier Timone, Marseille, France (Occupational Medicine and Health Department).
authors.forename: Gauthier
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bellagamba
authors.affiliation: APHM, Groupe Hospitalier Timone, Marseille, France (Occupational Medicine and Health Department).
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gionta
authors.affiliation: APHM, Groupe Hospitalier Timone, Marseille, France (Occupational Medicine and Health Department).
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Senergue
authors.affiliation: APHM, Groupe Hospitalier Timone, Marseille, France (Occupational Medicine and Health Department).
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bèque
authors.affiliation: APHM, Groupe Hospitalier Timone, Marseille, France (Occupational Medicine and Health Department). marie-pascale.lehucher@ap-hm.fr.
authors.forename: Marie-Pascale
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Lehucher-Michel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology
keywords: emergency; healthcare worker; intensive care units; job strain; mental quality of life