Stress among charge nurses: tool development and stress measurement

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Healthcare Management
• Occupational Health

Background:

• Lack of validated tools to measure role stress in charge nurses.
• Charge nurses face unique stressors impacting job satisfaction and patient care.
• Need for a specific instrument to quantify stress factors for this critical nursing role.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a reliable questionnaire for measuring role stress in charge nurses.
• To identify specific stressors experienced by charge nurses in a tertiary hospital setting.
• To provide a tool for assessing the impact of stress on charge nurses.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative data collection through focus groups and in-depth interviews with charge nurses.
• Development of a charge nurse stress questionnaire based on identified stressors.
• Reliability testing of the developed questionnaire.

Main Results:

• A six-factor stress questionnaire was developed: authority-responsibility conflict, patient-nurse interaction, deficient resources, managerial decision making, role conflict, and overload.
• Stress levels were significantly higher in charge nurses with postgraduate clinical courses.
• Department nurse managers reported higher stress levels than non-managerial nurses.

Conclusions:

• The developed tool reliably measures charge nurse stress and identifies role-specific stressors.
• Charge nurses experience unique pressures demanding specific support strategies.
• Recommendations include enhanced preparation and ongoing support for charge nurses in their roles.