[Characterization of stress in intensive care unit nurses]

This study proposes a characterization of the nurses who work in intensive care units (ICU) in different regions of Brazil and the association of the stress level they report with age, position, time since graduation, and enrollment in Graduate courses. The data were collected using the Bianchi Stress Inventory, consisting of socio-demographic information and 51 items of the activities nurses perform. The sample was comprised of 263 nurses, most of them female (91.6%); young (80.2% are less than 40-years-old); graduated between 2 and 5 years previously (34.6%); with latu sensu Graduate studies (74.5%). Most individual stress scores varied from medium to alert (60.1%). There was statistically significant association (p < 0.05) between areas C (administration of personnel) and D (nursing assistance). In conclusion, both nurses and hospitals must make efforts to get subsidies for improving assistance conditions and for strategies to cope with stress.