Health Status and Mental Condition Of Nurses In Bangladesh

Abstract

Background: Nursing is associated with high levels of emotional strain and heavy workloads. Work-related behaviour is linked to health. Nurses with unhealthy work-related behaviour and experience have a higher risk of reduced mental & physical health. Prevention of burnout & illness needs to focus on both the individual & the working conditions. Changing working conditions raise the importance of investigating job satisfaction, stress & burnout & its consequences for nurses. Objectives: Objectives of this study was to find out the health status and mental condition of nurses by presence or absence of different physical and mental symptoms. In addition to this, we also tried to know the lifestyle of nursing worker and their condition of working environment of nurses. Materials and methods: It is a cross sectional study. The study was conducted in three private and two government hospitals. A sample of 400 nurses were interviewed using questionnaires regarding work-related behaviour and experience patterns, work stress, depression, anxiety and physical symptoms. Study period was From March to December, 2015. After explaining the purpose of the study to the nurses, randomly they were interviewed by asking question in Bangla and used thoroughly pre-tested questionnaires. Results: The main result of this study was some health problems like weakness, decreased appetite, respiratory problems, neck stiffness, insomnia and depressive illness are more prevalent among nurses. Out of 400 nurses 65% (260) felt fatigue during their duty, 33.75% had decreased appetite, 68.75% suffered respiratory problems, 65% of them had neck pain or stiffness, 37.5% of nurses had depressive illness and 45.5% suffered insomnia. Conclusion: Nurses are suffering from many health problems. And these health problems are because of working in an unhygienic environment, always exposed to infectious agents, insufficient nutrition and stress related to their job. Nurses play an important role in delivering health care services. So we should take measures to improve health status of our nurses to build a healthy nation.