Cause, effect and coping skills of stress in physicians and nurses of an emergency department

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The emergency department (ED) has been considered highly stressful environment to work in. However, there has been no study evaluating the stresses endured by emergency staffs in Korea. This study aims to evaluate the cause and effect of stress, and coping methods used by doctors and nurses under stress from working in an emergency department. METHODS: Interns, residents and nurses of an emergency center were given questionnaires that included general health questionnaire (GHQ)-12 scale and modified Holmes & Rahe (HR) scale to examine the cause and effect of stress, and determine the coping methods they used to alleviate stress. A score of greater than 20 in the GHQ-12 scale and greater than 80 in the HR scale were considered as significant for stress. The stress scales were compared among the three groups using analysis of variance and chisquare test. RESULTS: A total of 111 participants consisting of 46 interns, 19 residents, and 46 nurses were surveyed. While the GHQ-12 score showed no difference between groups, the HR score showed significant differences among residents (82.4+/-23.0), nurses (73.6+/-13.2), and interns (70.1+/-17.7). Each stress score did not differ according to the age, gender, marital status, or presence of lover. Most frequently recorede effects of stress were difficulty waking up and fatigue. Most frequent coping methods employed were sleeping and smoking. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that ED staffs, especially residents, were exposed to significant amount of stress.