Thesis & Dissertations

Nursing is one of the most stressful jobs in the world. Work-related stress and burnout negatively affect nurses’ mental and physical wellbeing, consequently, absenteeism or early retirement occurs. This, in turn, leads to nursing shortage that negatively affects the health care system and the society. This study was conducted to compare work related stressors, level of job stress and burnout between CCNs and non- CCNs (Medical Surgical setting). It was conducted at the Critical Care Units (CCUs) and the Medical-Surgical Units of Rafic Hariri University Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon. The study included a sample of one hundred twenty six nurses, they were divided into two groups; group (1) included all nurses (60 nurses) working in the CCUs, and group (2) included (66 nurses) working in the Medical-Surgical Units. Three tools were used to collect the necessary data. Tool (I) was developed and used to assess different stressors in the workplace, titled “Nurses’ Job-related Stressors Assessment Sheet”. Tool (II) was adapted from the Arabic translated version of Parker and Decotiis (1983) and was used to evaluate nurses’ job stress level; “Workplace Stress Evaluation Tool”. Tool (III) was adopted from Maslach tool (2001). It was used to assess the level of burnout among nurses. The present study revealed that work related stressors, level of stress and burnout were higher among CCNs than medical-surgical nurses. A number of work-related stressors were the same for all nurses. This indicated nurses’ need for personal and professional support, as well as educational programs.