Stress Levels Among Nurses in The Critical Care Units, at a Level 6 Hospital in Kenya.

Abstract

Introduction: The critical care environment is stressful in nature because of the high acuity patients, the types of machines and the fact that the health care providers have to be competent to save lives or prevent complications. Nurses being part of the health care team are therefore under a lot of pressure to provide quality health care to patients with potential or life-threatening alterations. It is therefore paramount to establish the causes of stress and stress levels of nurses in the critical care units.

Aim: To establish causes of stress and stress levels among nurses in critical care units at Kenyatta National Hospital. 

Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional analytical design was adopted, and, convenient sampling was used to recruit 149 nurses from May to June 2022.

Findings: The majority of nurses were females 103 (69.6%) and had undergone critical care training 130 (87.8%). Inadequate staffing during shifts (n=69, 46.6%, Mean=3.01±1.1) was the most common cause of stress and majority of nurses had moderate stress level.

Conclusion: The stress levels of nurses in the critical care units were moderate and main cause of stress was work-related. Therefore, the hospital should establish peer assistance programs in CCU like employees' stress management training curriculum, which will encourage an inclusive and diverse environment for active discussion on any concerns found in the clinical set-up.