Stress Factors among Nurses at the Primary and Secondary Level of Public Sector Health Care: The Case of Slovenia.

BACKGROUND

Working in nursing is mentally and physically demanding and is one of the most stressful professions.

AIM: To determine the basic causes of stress and examine the symptoms of stress among healthcare professionals at the primary and secondary level of health care.

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

The research was based on the descriptive and causal non-experimental method of empirical research. The independent samples t-test was used.

RESULTS

The survey results have shown that those employed in nursing are exposed to stressful situations on a daily basis, most often involving psychological or physical violence in the workplace (M = 4.2), dealing with death (M = 3.9), lack of personnel (M = 3.9) and a high frequency of patients (M = 3.8). The following stress factors cause women greater stress than they do men: relationships among co-workers (t = 2.745; p = 0.006), psychological or physical violence in the workplace (t = 3.492; p = 0.001), and working with difficult patients (t = 2.427; p = 0.017).

CONCLUSION

To manage risks, employees and employers must work together and establish a suitable safety and organisational culture, which would enable them to manage and reduce stress.