Background: Nursing is a rewarding but stress filled profession. Every day the nurse confronts suffering, grief and death especially those who work in intensive care units of hospitals. It is hardly surprising that nurses confronted by such events and tasks on a regular basis experience high levels of stress and their difficulties appear to be further worsened by personal and organizational issues. Stress thus becomes a major cause of low productivity, high absenteeism, poor decision making and poor morale⁸.

Objectives of this study: To assess prevalence of stress and the factors which contribute to stress among female staff nurses working in the intensive care units of Govt. Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, a tertiary care center in Kerala.

Materials and Methods: The study was conducted among consenting female staff nurses working in the intensive care units of Govt. Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, a tertiary care center in Kerala. The 16 different ICUs selected were the Cardiology ICU, Cath ICU, Critical Care ICU, Surgery ICU, Medicine ICU, Trauma ICU, Burns ICU, Fever ICU, Orthopedics ICU, Cardiothoracic ICU, Casualty ICU, Medical Neurology ICU, Surgical Gastroenterology ICU,  Neurosurgery ICU, Urology ICU and Transplant ICUs (Liver and Kidney).

A Descriptive Cross sectional Survey approach was used for the study. A questionnaire was used to collect information from the participants. Work related stress and personal stress were independently assessed.

Results: The study revealed that 97.1% nurses working in ICUs reported moderate work related stress and 2.9% have severe work related stress. 2.9% have mild personal stress and 97.1%have moderate level personal stress. But exact conclusions could not be drawn on the exact domestic or professional factors which led to stress.

Keywords: Stress, Intensive care units.

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Dr Sabarisree M

Associate Professor, Govt Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram