Impact of occupational stress on nursing professionals who provide hospital care

Abstract

Introduction: One of the factors such as excessive working hours in nursing professionals poses a risk to their professional health, likely affecting the quality and productivity of the service provided. Objective: To determine the impact of job stress on part-time nursing professionals at the Technical University of Ambato. Methodology: A descriptive, non-experimental cross-sectional study was conducted. A survey was administered using the Spanish version of the Nursing Stress Scale (NSS) during July 2023. All part-time nursing staff working at the Technical University of Ambato as clinical instructors (n=50) were included. Data such as age and hospital work service were considered. Full-time nursing staff were excluded. Results: The surveyed nursing professionals predominated in services such as Operating Room 18% (n=9), Emergency 12% (n=6), Neonatology 12% (n=6), and Surgical Hospitalization 10% (n=5), with an average age of 38.6 years (Min 24 - Max 59). Regarding the determination of job stress based on evaluated stressors, scores characterized as "sometimes" predominated with 54% (n=27), followed by "never" with 26% (n=13), "frequently" with 16% (n=8), and finally "very frequently" with 4% (n=2). Conclusion: Stress related to disagreement with a patient's treatment was found to have a significant impact on the job stress of nursing professionals. Keywords: Job Stress, Nursing, Health Impact Assessment.