An instrument was developed to assess the levels and sources of stress experienced by health professionals. Based on a review of the literature, the Health Professions Stress Inventory was constructed and administered via a mail questionnaire to a large group of practicing physicians, pharmacists, and nurses. Data analyses indicated that the inventory possessed suitable internal consistency, as measured by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Scores also were correlated significantly with scores on Lyons' tension index. The inventory shows internal consistency and concurrent validity. It should be useful in assessing the relative stress perceived in health professions.

While considerable research has been devoted to job stress within individual health professions, little information has been available for comparing the sources or levels of stress among different groups of health professionals. To bridge that knowledge gap, the Health Professions Stress Inventory (HPSI) was administered via a mail questionnaire to 291 primary care physicians, 379 registered nurses, and 387 pharmacists randomly selected from across the United States. Mean stress scores on the HPSI were significantly different for all three professions, with nurses reporting the greatest levels of stress. Frequency of exposure to individual stressful job situations also differed significantly among the professional groups. While exploratory in nature, the results of this research emphasize the interprofessional differences that must be considered when considering the management of job stress in the health care system.

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The PPDG is short and easy to administer, and showed validity and reliability. The PPDG scale should be useful in developing a better understanding of the process by which pharmacists influence healthcare outcomes, assessing variations in pharmaceutical care, and as a tool in identifying means of overcoming barriers to higher levels of pharmaceutical care.

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