Sense of responsibility in health workers source of job stress

Abstract

Job stress is a great problem in developed countries of the world, but in Yugoslavia, it is increased due to additional reasons associated with economic crisis in the society. Health services and health workers are in particulary difficult conditions. The aim of this paper was to examine sources and causes of job stress in health workers. Material and methods The research was undertaken among health workers treated at Health Centre "Hospital" in Novi Sad. The study group included health workers - doctors nurses and laboratory workers, and the control group included the rest of non-medical staff. Adapted Siegrist questionnaire was used. Three factors were examined: extrinsic efforts (disturbances at work, sense of great job responsibility and the need for overtime work); intrinsic efforts (major criticism, thinking about the job from the early morning, getting nervous because of minor problems, discontentment because of unsolved problems at work, relaxation at home and so on), and low reward (respect from the superiors and colleagues, support and security at workplace). Answers were scored indicating intensity (high, moderate, low, not at alt). Statistic analysis included testing the level of significance in health workers in relation to non-medical staff (t test and Fisher's exact test). Results Applying the scoring system it has been established that health workers are exposed to greater job stress, great sense of very high job responsibility and frequent overtime work (p<0,001) than the control group. In regard to answers from the second group - intrinsic effort and low reward, there was no statistical significance between the study and control group. Generally high level of risk factors was established, especially presence of one or more risk factors. Discussion Job stress increases absenteeism, reduces work productivity, causes higher expenses of medical treatment, rehabilitation and staff retraining. It is of great importance to identify factors which cause job dissatisfaction in order to decrease them to the lowest level. Conclusion High sense of responsibility in health workers is a source of job stress.