Saúde do trabalhador: o estresse do enfermeiro na Unidade de Terapia Intensiva.

Abstract

The term stress is associated with sensations of discomfort that arise in various situations and in the nursing area it is related to the condition of the professional working with sick people, who present physical and psychological suffering, and require close attention, causing the daily handle with these people, and their various situations, feelings are developed that may lead the person to the state of irritation, disappointment, and even depression. Within the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where the patients' suffering is constant, and they are on the threshold between life and death, it is required in a more intensive way both direct and indirect care. And this causes the stress among nursing professionals to find more propitious conditions to install. This study aimed to investigate the stress conditions in which nurses working in ICU at the Regional Hospital of Sousa (RHS) and Regional Hospital of Cajazeiras (RHC) in the state of Paraiba are submitted; To trace a profile of the nurses who work in ICU; To verify how ICU nurses realize the stress associated with their activities; To identify the major stressors in the ICU, and to achieve them it was chosen an exploratory and descriptive, with a quantitative approach. The sample consisted of 11 nurses from the ICUs from the mentioned hospitals, who responded a set of questions directed to their characterization and the Nursing Stress Inventory. The results showed that the majority of participants were female, in the age range from 25 to 30 years, singles, with training time between 4 and 6 years and with specialization course. 36% of nurses surveyed present a high score indicating the presence of stress. We concluded that there is a need to settle politics in the institutions, to offer their professionals special attention, to minimize the effects of work on the health of these professionals, including the installation of the health worker team.