Work Load and Stress among Public Health Nurses for Infectious Disease Control and Prevention in Central Taiwan

Abstract

Public health nurses are the main task force for the infectious disease control and prevention in Taiwan. Reports on the work load and stress remain limited. In this study, the public health nurses in 41 public health centers in 2 counties were evaluated with a self-complete questionnaire which aimed to measure the work load and stress related to infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, chronic infectious diseases other than tuberculosis, acute infectious diseases, and immunization. Of 330 public health nurses enrolled, 158 (47.9%), 110 (33.3%), and 58 (17.6%) participants showed low motive for tuberculosis control and prevention, immunization, and administrative routines, respectively. The factors that contributed to the stress for tuberculosis control and prevention included frequent policy changes, heavy work load, and heavy paper work. The factors that contributed to the control and prevention for chronic infectious diseases other than tuberculosis included challenge for contact investigation, challenge for thorough case investigation, and challenge for establishing mutual trust with the case patients. The factors that contributed to the stress for acute infectious disease control and prevention included constrained time frame for case investigation, heavy work load, and challenge for contact investigation. The factors that contributed to the stress for immunization included cold train maintenance, malpractice for immunization, and adverse events for immunization. In conclusion, public health nurses showed high stress and low motive for practicing major infectious disease control and prevention. To remit the stress might improve their motivation for infectious disease control and prevention.