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Stress in an Irish inner city emergency department revisited (2000-2006)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Tomás Breslin ,
John McInerney ,
John Sheehan ,
Dominick Natin  and
Mary Codd
Tomás Breslin
Affiliation:
UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy & Population Science, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
John McInerney
Affiliation:
UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy & Population Science, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
John Sheehan
Affiliation:
UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy & Population Science, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
Dominick Natin
Affiliation:
UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy & Population Science, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
Mary Codd
Affiliation:
UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy & Population Science, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
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Abstract

Objectives:

Stress levels among staff in the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital Emergency Department were studied by questionnaire in 2000, which demonstrated a high level of self reported stress. The aim of this study was to ascertain if stress levels had reduced following changes in the department.

Method:

The study was repeated using the same questionnaire in 2006, after changes had occurred.

Results:

There was a significant reduction in the percentage of staff that reported they were under severe or unbearable stress, from 37% in 2000 to 10% in 2006 (p = 0.002). A total of 60% felt the social environment of their work was satisfactory in 2006 compared to 40% in 2000 (p = 0.03). Compared to 2000, a significantly lower proportion reported they had a low degree of control over their job, and a significantly higher proportion reported a medium level of control over their job in 2006 (p = 0.03).

Conclusions:

Compared with the results of the previous study, reported stress levels have reduced overall, which coincided with a significant increase in staffing levels in the department.

Keywords

StressEmergency DepartmentMedical staffOver-crowding
Type
Brief Report
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , September 2010 , pp. 135 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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