Work Load Related Stress Among Nurses in Tertiary Care Hospital Karachi Pakistan

Abstract

Background:
This study's main goal is to determine how common stress is among nurses, with an emphasis on stressors that are specific to the workplace. Stress has become more common among healthcare workers in recent years, which has a big impact on nurses. This study aims to identify the age groups that are most susceptible to stress by classifying stress. It also looks at how education and marital status affect nurses' stress levels. The findings of this study will provide insight into the particular elements that lead to stress in the nursing profession, such as pressures from the workplace, how patients and their families view nurses, and the dynamics between hospital administration and medical staff when interacting with nursing staff. Prior studies have repeatedly demonstrated the pervasiveness of stress in nursing, with numerous research pointing to age and gender as possible predictors of its occurrence. According to our research, female nurses are more stressed than their male counterparts.
Objective: To assess workload-related stress levels and determine its prevalence among nurses.
Methodology: In this study, a cross-sectional research design was employed at DR. Ruth KM. Pfau Civil Hospital in Karachi. The participants consisted of staff nurses holding valid PNC cards at the hospital. Those who voluntarily declined to participate were excluded. Convenient sampling was utilized to select 150 participants, and data was collected through questionnaires, with questions explained to the nurses as necessary. The questionnaire included queries related to demographic variables and factors contributing to work-related stress. The data was then analyzed, with results presented in terms of percentages, frequencies for qualitative variables, and mean values with standard deviations for quantitative variables. The study aimed to explore the relationship between demographic factors and nurses' attitudes towards workload-related stress through the use of the Chi-square test.
Result: Were showed that 50.0 % of the participants were found in highly stressed due to workload & 69.3 % were found exhausted at the end of duty.
Conclusion: In conclusion, the research emphasizes the significance of stress management in critical care settings, where a significant number of participant’s work. These findings emphasize the urgent need for effective interventions and strong support systems to lessen the stress burden and its wide-ranging impact within the healthcare sector, ultimately improving the well-being of healthcare professionals. This study spotlights the alarming frequency of work-related stress in healthcare professionals and its associated consequences. It has specifically identified noticeable shifts in behavior and clear signs of depression among the participants.