Stress amongst critical care nurses in Abu-Dhabi hospitals.

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the stressors that affecting the critical care nurses in Abu Dhabi hospitals in order for the managers to take action to decrease or control these stressors where possible, or to take other appropriate action. Design: A cross sectional survey design was adopted in this study, as the phenomena of stress in CCNs was surveyed at one point of time . Sample: A convenient sample of 50 CCNs was included in the study. The participants were working as a CCNs in Abu Dhabi hospitals for a minimum one-year. Instruments: Two questionnaires were utilized to collect the data for this study; The Critical Care Stressors Scale and The Hamilton Anxiety Scale. Results: Results showed that The CCNs did not show a high level of anxiety according to the adopted scale. The most frequent stressors perceived by the CCNs were the stressors related to the critical care unit environment and the nursing responsibilities. On the other hand, the most severe stressors perceived by the CCNs were also under the categories of the critical care unit environment and Nurse-Health care workers conflicts. Conclusion: The hospital/nursing administrations were asked to revise the policies of visiting , dealing with infectious hazards, and portable X-rays . Also, the results showed that hiring more rton-nurses staff to deal with non-nursing jobs, and more male staff to carry out the heavy jobs such as changing position will aid in decreasing the stress perceived by the CCNs.