Malgorzata GRZESKOWİAK, Alicja BARTKOWSKA-SNİATKOWSKA, Jowita ROSADA-KURASİNSKA, İwona KİELBASİEWİCZ-DROZDOWSKA, Piotr K. JANİCKİ

Stress assessment by anaesthesiologists and nurses working in paediatric intensive care units

Abstract. Paediatric intensive care units (PICU) play a special role in the therapy of critically ill children. The physicians (anaesthesiologists) and nurses are at a particular risk of job-related stress because continuous work stress can lead to psychological and physical disturbances. The aim of the study was to assess the stress level among the anaesthesiologists and nurses in the PICU. The anaesthesiologists and nurses (104), recruited from five university hospital centres in Poland, participated in the study between 2005-2008. The participants were asked how they estimate the stress level at work, both in general and specific in relation to working in the PICU. Both tested groups estimated the stressfulness of their job in the PICU as high or very high. The most stressful factors for doctors were: decision on limitation of intensive therapy, giving information to parents about a child’s death and stressful attitude towards challenging clinical cases. For nurses, the stressful-factors included witnessing the parents’ reaction to critical state of their child and/or child’s death. The anaesthesiologists and nurses working in the PICU are very stressed and in their opinion work in intensive unit is much more stressful than other jobs. Even though the stress job-related factors are well known the methods to cope with them seem to be insufficient. Based on our research, we argue that the medical team in the PICU should develop and realize competences of stress management or psychological support. Key words: Job-related stress, nurses, occupational healthpaediatric intensive care unit, physicians,

Keywords:

Job-related stress, nurses, occupational healthpaediatric intensive care unit, physicians,

PDF

___

Michie S. Causes and management of stress at work. Occup Environ Med 2002; 59: 67-72.
Payne R. Stress at work: a conceptual framework. In: Firth-Cozens J., Payne R., eds. Stress in Health Professionals. 1 st edn. Chichester: John Wiley; 1999; 3-16.
Ramirez AJ, Graham J, Richards MA, Cull A, Gregory WM. Mental health of hospital consultants: the effects of stress and satisfaction at work. Lancet 1996; 347: 724-728.
Kapur N, Borrill C, Stride C. Psychological morbidity and job satisfaction in hospital consultants and junior house officers: multicentre, cross section survey. BMJ 1998; 317: 511-512.
Murray RM. Alcoholism amongst male doctors in Scotland. Lancet 1976; 2: 729-731.
Schlicht SM, Gordon IR, Ball JR, Christie DG. Suicide and related deaths in Victorian doctors. Med J Aust 1990; 153: 518-521.
Lindeman S, Laara E, Hakko H, Lonnqvist J. A systemic review on gender-specific suicidal mortality in medical doctors. Br J Psychiatry 1996; 168: 274-279.
Rutter H, Herzberg J, Paice E. Stress in doctors and dentists who teach. Med. Edu 2002; 36: 543-549.
Khuwaja AK, Qureshi R, Andrades M, Fatmi Z, Khuwaja NK. Comparison of job satisfaction and stress among male and female doctors in teaching hospitals of Karachi. J Ayub Med. Coll Abbottabad 2004; 16: 23-27.
Baig A, Siddiqui I, Naqvi H, Sabir S, Jabbar J, Shahid M. Correlation of serum cortisol levels stress among medical doctors working in emergency departments. J Coll Phys Surg Pak 2006; 16: 576- 580.
Cabrera SL, Sanchez-Palacios M, Gonzalez RF, et al. Physicians’ attitudes and perceptions regarding the critical care and critical care speciality. Med Intensiva 2008; 32: 319-328.
Bratt MM, Broome M, Kelber S, Lostocco L. Influence of stress and nursing leadership on job satisfaction of pediatric intensive care unit nurses. Am J Crit Care 2000; 9: 307-317.
Mekechuk J. Moral distress in the pediatric intensive care unit: the impact on pediatric nurses. Int J Health Care Qual Assur Inc Leadersh Health Serv 2006; 19(4-5):i-vi.
Farrington A. Stress and nursing. British Journal of Nursing 1995; 4: 574-578.
Callaghan P, Tak-Ying SA, Wyatt PA. Factors related to stress and coping among Chinese nurses in Hong Kong. Journal of Advanced Nursing 2000; 31: 1518-1527.
Lau R, Chan S. & Chan S. The stressors of nurses in the intensive care unit in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Nursing Journal 1995; 69: 17-24.
Fisher JE, Calame A, Detting A, Zeier H, Fanconi S. Experience and endocrine stress responses in neonatal and pediatric critical care nurses and physicians. Crit Care Med 2000; 28: 3281-3288.
Kawasaki K, Sekimoto M, Ishizaki T, Imanaka Y. Work stress and workload of full-time anesthesiologists in acute care hospitals in Japan. J Anesth 2009; 23: 235-241.
Hipwell A, Tyler P, Wilson C. Sources of stress and dissatisfaction among nurses in four hospital environments. British Journal of Medical Psychology 1989; 62: 71-79.
Lee KJ, Dupree CY. Staff experiences with end-of- life care in the pediatric intensive care unit. J Palliat Med 2008; 11: 986-990.
Astbury J, Yu VYH. Determinants of stress for staff in a neonatal intensive care unit. Arch Dis Child 1982; 57: 108-111.
Cole A. High anxiety. Nursing Times 1992; 88: 26- 29.
Hope A, Kelleher CC, O’Connor M. Lifestyle practices and the health promoting environment of hospital nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing 1998; 28: 438-447.
Burbeck H, Deary IJ, Robinson SM, Todd C. Occupational stress in consultants in accident and emergency medicine: a national survey of level stress at work. Journal of Emergency Medicine 2002: 19: 234-238.
Appleton K, House A, Dowell A. A survey of job satisfaction, sources of stress and psychological symptoms among general practitioners in Leeds. British Journal of General Practice 1998: 48: 1049- 1063.
Embriaco N, Azoulay E, Barrau K, et al. High level of burnout in intensivists: prevalence and associated factors. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2007; 175: 686- 692.
Mansour A, Riad W, Moussa A. The occupational fatigue in anesthesiologists: illusion or real? Middle East J Anesthesiol 2010; 20: 529-534.
Celentano DD, Johns JV. Stress in healthcare workers. Occupational medicine: state of the art reviews 1987; Jul-Sep2(3).
Foxall M, Zimmerman L, Standley R, Bene B. A comparison of frequency and sources of nursing job stress perceived by intensive care, hospice and medical-surgical nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing 1990; 15: 577-584.
Trojanowska I, Wolowicka L, Bartkowska- Sniatkowska A, et al. Burnout syndrome in the intensive care therapeutic team. Intensive Care Medicine 2002; 28 suppl.:S202.
Torsvall L, Akerstedt T. Disturbed sleep while being on-call. Sleep 1998; 11: 35-38.
Wall TD, Bolden RI, Borrill CS, et al Minor psychiatric disorders in NHS trust staff: occupational and gender differences. British Journal of Psychiatry 1997; 17: 519-523.
Frasquilho MA. Medicine, doctors and persons. Understanding stress prevent burnout. Acta Medica Poruguesa 2005; 18: 433-443.