Stress at work and working conditions of nurses / technicians in primary and secondary health care // Stres na poslu i radne okolnosti medicinskih sestara/ tehničara u primarnoj i sekundarnoj zdravstvenoj zaštiti

Nursing by nature is a profession with high level of stress. As a profession it is considered to be one of more difficult jobswhich requires physical, mental and emotional engagement of nurses and technicians. Determine stress levels and working conditions of nurses in primary and secondary health care. The research was conducted at the General Hospital in Trebinje (secondary health care) and the Medical Center of Foca (primary health care). The study included 90 nurses and technicians.The study lasted for a period from10/02/2017 to 28/02/2017. The data were collected by anonymous questionnaire to identify stress at work which is adapted to protect workers’ health by the WHO. The health center in Foca(primary health care) tested 47.8% of respondents, and the rest are respondents who are employed at the General Hospital in Trebinje (secondary health care) (52.2%). Of the total number of nurses / technicians, 61.1% believe that there is enough time to adequately carry out their work. More than a half of the respondents (51.1%) believe that the work in their institutionis stressful. Twenty percent of the medicine nurses / technicians is exposed to unfavourable physical conditions at work. Highly statistically significant is higher number of nurses / technicians from the primary health care who consider to have good prospects for career development in comparison to nurses / technicians from secondary health care (χ2 = 15.563, p = 0.001). The highest percentage of nurses / technicians, 65.6% believe that their incomesare not sufficient to meet their own needs and those of their families. The results analysis showed that the stress of nurses / technicians at both levelsof thehealth care is equally present, as well as that nurses in secondary health care encounter more difficultworking conditions. Besides that financial compensation for the work of nurses / technicians is not enough to satisfy their own needs and those of their families.