Cognitive changes in nurses working in intensive care units

To measure the levels of stress, anxiety, and depression of nurses working in ICUs, relating them to levels of attention before and after 24 hours.

An observational, quantitative, analytical study with 18 nurses undergoing an inventory of stress, anxiety, and depression, as well as assessment of attention levels and psychomotor functioning.

Sixty-one percent showed positive for stress. Depression was observed in 33%; and anxiety in 99.9%. A strong correlation between stress and depression (ρ = 0.564 with p <0.05) and anxiety (ρ = 1 with p <0.05) was observed. There was a weak correlation between stress and task execution time in M2 (ρ = 0.055) for TMT A, a fact that did not occur in M0 (ρ = -0.249).

The study shows that the workload of the nurses working in 24-hour shifts in the ICU is correlated with high levels of stress, decreases in the attention process, and psychomotor decline.