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Healthcare practitioners working in emergency departments are frequently confronted by stress evoking incidents that can lead to both short and longer term psychosocial and physical effects. This study aims to determine which stress-evoking incidents a group of healthcare workers in a emergency department of a general hospital perceive as most significant.
Methods
A cross-sectional descriptive study was performed along the years of 2009/2010. A total of 252 healthcare workers from the emergency department of a general hospital in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais (Brazil) completed a questionnaire. The questionnaire focuses on gathering information on the demographic, violence victimization and stress evoking situations variables. Data were analyzed using SPSS 19.0
Results
61,2% of the respondents had between 20 and 35 years, 40,5 were married, 73,4% were women, 51,7% were nurse technician, 7,6% bachelor of nursing degree, 28,0% doctors and 13,7% were others health professionals. The following stressors were identified by the respondents: heavy workload 86,9%, overcrowding 83,7%, concerns about care a person under the effect of alcohol or other drugs 75%, infectious diseases exposure 72,6%, violence against staff 71%, concerns about care a person involved with criminality 65,9%,death of a child 65,5%,concerns about care a person under police escort 63,5%, sexual abuse of a child 63,9%, mass casualty incident 59,7%, high acuity patients 58,7%, concerns about care a critically injured or dying family member 56%, impossibility to provide optimum care caused by a lack of pharmaceuticals or medical devices 55,2%, medico-legal concerns 51,2%, poor professional relations 50,8%, dealing with the media 47,2%.
Discussion
The major findings from this study emphasized the need to reduce the heavy workload. The data confirm results of other studies and highlight the need for a continuing focus on initiatives aimed at ameliorating workplace conditions in emergency department.