Occupational stress and stressors experienced by the newly practicing nurses in intensive care units

Abstract

Background and objective: Nurses working in critical care units face occupational stress particularly in the first six months of their practice; however, research on nurses’ perceived stress during this period is extremely limited. The aim of the study was to assess occupational stress and stressors experienced by the newly practicing nurses in intensive care units (ICUs).

Methods: Design: A cross-sectional, descriptive, quantitative research design. Settings: Four ICUs in a university hospital in Alexandria governorate, Egypt. Participants: A convenient sample of 100 intern nurses who had their first clinical work experience in ICU during the internship. Method: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive, quantitative survey study conducted in four ICUs in Alexandria university hospital, Egypt. A questionnaire sheet consisting of two parts was used to collect data. Part one is the nursing stress scale and part two is the respondents’ socio-demographic and work-related data. Descriptive and bivariate statistical analyses were used to describe study variables and their associations.

Results: All of the studied newly practicing nurses in ICUs experienced either moderate (43%) or high (57%) stress level. There are differences between the perceived stress reported by the studied nurses according to their characteristics (e.g., sex, marital status, having private work). These differences were not statistically significant. Death and dying, workload, and inadequate preparation are the top ranked stressors; average scores are 2.22, 2.20, and 2.13 respectively. In their first two months of experiences, nurses perceived inadequate preparation and death and dying as the highest stressors. This ranking differs among nurses with 3-4 months of experience and nurses with 5-6 months of experience.

Conclusions and recommendations: Newly practicing nurses in ICUs face a significant level of stress. Death and dying, workload, and inadequate preparation are the top ranked stressors. Recommendations: Stress-management program must be initiated for new practicing nurses in ICU. Death and dying in ICU are highly needed topics to be embedded into nursing curriculum. Strategies to help graduate nurses cope must be implemented.