Assessment of occupational stress in medical doctors working in tertiary care hospital

Abstract

Background: Nowadays, stress has commonly been assessed especially in medical doctors. The reason for the same is that medical doctors have to play high competitive roles and in turn have so many responsibilities keeping in mind the holistic care to patients. Aim/objective: To assess occupational stress in medical doctors working in tertiary care hospital of Bhavnagar, Gujarat. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted during September 2017 to December 2017 after prior approval of institutional ethics committee. Total 75, both male and female medical doctors were enrolled as study participants after written informed consent and based on inclusion criteria. Along with case record performa, self-administered pre-tested questionnaires having stress scale namely Professional Stress Scale (PSS) and Perceived Stress Scale 10 items (PSS-10) were given to all participants as a study tool. The data of scores received on scales was and entered in Microsoft excel and the same was analyzed by using GraphPad Prism 5 software for various proportions, associations and frequencies. The associations were considered significant if the p value is less than 0.05. Results: Out of 75, total 50 participants filled and submitted the questionnaires. The mean age of participants was 31.96 years. As per the stress scales used, moderate stress was observed among medical doctors irrespective of sex. The commonest symptom observed among stressed doctors was sleep disturbances (insomnia). Conclusion: Moderate to mild stress was found among medical doctors. Stress in medical doctors is never underestimated irrespective of sex. Insomnia is the commonest symptom observed among stressed doctors.