[Occupational stress: evaluation of intensive care nurses who work at nighttime]

Descriptive, cross-sectional study, which aimed to evaluate the stress level of nighttime intensive care nurses. The Bianchi Stress Scale was applied to 26 (100%) nurses from five hospitals. In data analysis, the Pearson Chi-square test was used and it was noticed that the stress among nurses in a public (3.36 points) and private facility (3.02 points) was classified at the median level and there was no statistical significance (p = 0.90) forr stress, according to the type of institution. Variables that most contributed to the occurrence of stress were: working conditions (nighttime work closed and critical unit), patient severity, management activities associated with care. It was concluded that the workplace was positively associated with the stress in nurses working at nighttime and that its onset and effects can be minimized through improvements in the structure and organization of the place where the healthcare providers work.