Executive Summary
Stress has a detrimental effect on the health of medical staff, so hospitals must make efforts to minimize stress. Integrating stress reduction and wellness programs into the work routine can improve the situation and alleviate professional burdens. Motivating employees for these programs is essential for hospital administrators, as is changing their organization. Strategies to minimize stress and create an improved environment for the staff must be used.
Introduction
The presence of stress when working with people and providing services to them is regular because it is a feature of the functioning of society and different levels of the psyche. However, elevated stress levels lead to significant health problems, and this is a frequent occurrence for hospital employees. As long as healthcare workers are exposed to high-stress levels, the quality of their work decreases, and we may fear deterioration in the care they provide.
Overview
First, we should start with how the staff envisions the job and what conditions the hospital offers. Skill mismatches, excessive demands, and overwork lead to staff anxiety (Odonkor & Adams, 2021). Compensation conditions and work and rest schedules also lead to staff stress. Length of experience positively affects stress levels (Gebeyehu & Zeleke, 2019), but new employees should also be on the safe work agenda.
Second, the staff is emotionally connected with the patient as they face difficult conditions (Muhamad Robat et al., 2021). Despite preparing for such conditions, making time for oneself and unloading the emotional background is not always possible. It has been noted that high-stress levels correlate with the level of responsibility. Particularly for managerial positions, having multiple responsibilities increases the number of stress encounters (Muhamad Robat et al., 2021).
Finally, the possibility of disrupted work processes that cause employees to experience stress should not be overlooked. This is evident in the COVID-19 pandemic: employees did not always have access to personal protective equipment, suffered injuries due to overwork (Odonkor & Adams, 2021), and experienced increased life threats (Liljestrand & Martin, 2021). This multidirectional nature of stress obliges one to find ways to resolve stress.
Discussion and Analysis of the Study Results
Biological Implications
Long-term exposure of the body to stress significantly alters the activity of neurohumoral mechanisms. First, one should be wary of increasing the risks of a heart attack because increased levels of cortisol (a stress hormone) lead to increased cardiac risk and asystole (O’Connor et al., 2021). Second, stress is a source of impaired ability to make introspective judgments: irregular stress on the prefrontal cortex reduces decision-making ability (Barrientos et al., 2020). Finally, constant stress and sensory strain overstress the analyzers; consequently, sleep disturbances, hand tremors, and eating disorders develop.
Ways to Change Behavior
The occurrence of environmental stress can mediate behavior change primarily through avoidance. Staff can reduce the frequency of stressful situations because they learn to see harbingers of stress. In addition, staff can change their eating behaviors to compensate for the harms of stress and develop healthier habits, which will positively affect their work patterns. Finally, stress can also cause adverse behavioral changes related to increased irritation and emotional arousal.
Conclusion with Recommendations
Stress is a source of many occupational problems for staff in healthcare settings. Hospitals can create stress reduction programs and encourage participants to participate in them. To do this, the hospital can include free meditation and yoga classes, teach breathing techniques, and encourage work and rest management practices.
Staff motivation should also encourage healthy lifestyles through education and incentives with financial compensation. Ways to achieve healthy lifestyles include healthy eating places within the hospital, smoking reduction programs (training and meetings with specialists), and disease risk-tracking programs. Introducing preventive screenings and incentives with days off will minimize stress.
References
Barrientos, M., Tapia, L., Silva, J. R., & Reyes, G. (2020). Biological stress reactivity and introspective sensitivity: An exploratory study. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. Web.
Gebeyehu, S., & Zeleke, B. (2019). Workplace stress and associated factors among healthcare professionals working in public health care facilities in Bahir Dar City, Northwest Ethiopia, 2017. BMC Research Notes, 12(1). Web.
Liljestrand, R., & Martin, S. (2021). Stress and resilience among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: Consideration of case studies. Rehabilitation Nursing: the Official Journal of the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses, 46(6), 300–304. Web.
Muhamad Robat, R., Mohd Fauzi, M. F., Mat Saruan, N. A., Mohd Yusoff, H., & Harith, A. A. (2021). Why so stressed? A comparative study on stressors and stress between hospital and non-hospital nurses. BMC Nursing, 20(1). Web.
O’Connor, D. B., Thayer, J. F., & Vedhara, K. (2021). Stress and Health: A Review of Psychobiological Processes. Annual Review of Psychology, 72, 663–688. Web.
Odonkor, S. T., & Adams, S. (2021). Predictors of stress and associated factors among healthcare workers in Western Ghana. Heliyon, 7(6). Web.