Occupational Stress among Nurses Working in Secondary Level Hospital

Background: Stress is an inherent component of human existence which is address as a global epidemic. Stress at workplace lowers the standard of nursing care and raises the possibility of medical errors. Methods: A hospital based cross-sectional study was carried out to the level of occupational stress among nurses working in Bogra 250 bed Mohammad Ali District Hospital and Joypurhat 250 bed District Hospital from January 2022 to December 2022. The ‘Kessler Psychological Distress Scale’ (K10) was used to measures the level of stress. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 37.9± 8.8 years. The mean of the working experience was 9.1±6.9 years. The Majority of the nurses (91.4%) had no stress, 5.2% had mild stress and 3.4% was experienced moderate stress in last 30 days. Level of stress among the nurses was statistically significant with ability to take break, sudden change in roaster, confidence in clinical decision making, ability to have healthy meal, missed social events, opportunity to spend time with family and friends, and supports from seniors (p<0.05). Conclusion: Study reveals mild to moderate level of stress was found among one out of ten nurses. It has been found that excessive occupational stress lowers the level of nursing care. Addressing the identified precipitating factors may help relieve stress among nurses and in turn, improve their work efficiency.