The impact of perceived stress on working behavior of nurses in Pakistan

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of perceived stress in nurses working in various departments of tertiary care public sector hospitals of Pakistan. Methods: Using a non-random convenience sample, 400 nurses working in various departments in Services Hospital Lahore and Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore were inducted. Nurses recorded their responses in  Domestic Version of Perceived Stress Scale 10-Items Questionnaire (PSS10) with a Characteristic Checklist. Results: This study identified that nurses working in psychiatric departments perceived the highest level of stress followed by oncology ward nurses, ICU/CCU, and ER nurses respectively. However the nurses of medical and surgical ward reported the lowest level of stress.Conclusions: This study showed that psychiatric ward nurses experience the highest levels of stress among all volunteers. This might lead to discontentment with the job and high rates of exhaustion and stressing out. All these factors can result in hampering patients care and safety concerns especially those of psychiatric patients. It is of strongly advocated that nursing superintendents and the hospital administration pay due attention to this occurrence and identify the potential causes of unyielding stress in hospital settings. Stress is defined as the sum of perceived demands exceeding individuals’ coping abilities; stress happens as a result of interaction between the external and internal components of the environment involving the individual’s perceptions and taking into account the developing relationship between the individual and its immediate environment