A Study to Assess the Level of Stress and Coping Strategies among Nurses working in Intensive Care Units of Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura, Srinagar

Abstract

Introduction: In every hospital, the intensive care unit has been described as an extremely stressful environment for nursing staff because it is an area of the hospital that provides comprehensive and continuous care for critically ill patients. The objective of the present study is to assess the level of stress and coping strategies used by nurses working in the intensive care units of Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura, Srinagar.Method: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted on 50 nurses working in the intensive care units of Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura, Srinagar. Sampling was based on the purposive method. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data.Results: Majority of the ICU Nurses reported high level of stress. The most common coping strategy used was belief in religion and the least used strategy was the use of substances. There was a significant association between the stress level of study subjects and age and clinical experience. There was a significant association of coping level with demographic variables such as gender, professional qualification, and clinical experience, and there was no significant association between coping level and demographic variables like age and marital status. There was a negative correlation between stress and Approach coping level, and a positive correlation between stress and Avoidant coping level.Conclusion: Stress among ICU nurses reaches values that are considered seriously high. The additional knowledge that Avoidant coping aggravates stress can serve as the basis in formulating work-related stress reduction strategies among nurses caring for critical patients.