Influence of nursing staff working hours on stress levels during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background Working as a nurse means being able to provide high-quality care 24/7. Studies have shown that the average number of working hours per week is a significant predictor of stress and that the severity of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has increased the nurses’ stress levels. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the nursing staff’s working hours during the COVID-19 pandemic on the perceived level of stress. Method We carried out an online cross-sectional survey and measured the stress level with the perceived stress scale. Results Most of the nurses experienced a moderate level of stress. We identified a statistically significant association between increased numbers of working hours per week and the nurses’ perceived stress level. In addition, 15% of the nurses who had worked more than 40 h reported experiencing a high level of stress. Conclusion These results reflect the negative consequences of prolonged working hours. For this reason, a (inter)national discussion is needed on the topic of restricting the working hours of healthcare workers during such pandemics. This discussion can improve the health and safety of healthcare workers, patients and members of the general population.

The Status of Occupational Stress and Its Influence on the Health of Medical Staff in Lanzhou, China

“…The results of multiple linear regression analysis showed that hospital level, weekly working hours, and occupational stress level affected the health status of the medical staff. The higher the health-facility level, the longer the working hours per week, the higher the level of occupational stress, and the worse the health status, consistent with relevant research results [ 55 , 56 , 57 ].…”

A structural equation model analysis of the association between work‐related stress, burnout and job‐related affective well‐being among nurses in Saudi Arabia during the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Despite the danger of infection, nurses' dedication to their work appears to be an innate desire to provide care for patients with COVID‐19 (Natividad et al, 2021 ). Nonetheless, the universal effort to control the outbreak leads to higher work hours and workload, which has been defined as the primary contributor to work‐related stress among nurses (Alenezi et al, 2018 ; Duarte et al, 2020 ; Hoedl et al, 2021 ).…”

Changes in work-related stressors before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: differences by gender and parental status

“…Women tend to cluster in occupations such as healthcare, social work and hospitality, all of which were severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic (OECD , 2020. In the healthcare sector, for instance, workers suddenly found themselves working in a high-risk profession due to increased exposure to COVID-19 and being exposed to prolonged working hours (Hoedl et al 2021). Unfortunately, we were unable to control for the employment sector in the present analysis, which would have been important as it may have confounded the relationship between gender and work-related stressors (Kreimer 2004;Kjellsson 2021).…”