A Survey on the Associated Factors of Stress among Operating Room Personnel

Background: Experiencing stress can notoriously affect people’s mental and physical health. A major source of stress can be the workplace environment. According to the numerous studies, job stress among nurses is relatively higher than that of the other jobs. Objectives: The aim of this study was examination of the relation between workplace environment and stress among operating room personnel in the training hospitals of Ilam University of Medical Science (IUMS). Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on all personnel of operating rooms (operating room technicians, anesthesia technicians and nurses) in training hospitals of IUMS. Fifty subjects were selected by sequential sampling. To collect data, demographic data and job stress questionnaires (Cooper) were used. Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics tests such as Chi-square, Pearson correlation coefficient, ANOVA and T-test. Results: Higher levels of stress were due to the fear of being infected by HIV and hepatitis patients with mean of 3.2 and 58%; and lack of weekends with mean of 3 and 44%. The lowest levels of stress were related to inadequate skills with mean of 2.18 and 32%, and environment light with mean of 2.14 and 34.7%. Stress was significantly related to job status, conflict of doctors and nurses as well as spouses’ attitude about work (P 0.05). But there was no significant relation between stress and work shift, age, being experienced, type of hospital and marital status. Conclusions: According to the pivotal role of environmental and mental factors in the emergence of stress among operating room personnel, several considerations such as increasing the level of knowledge regarding infections, providing adequate resting time and improvement of the communications should be given among operating room personnel.