National Children's Hospital: 42% of nurses are stressed
42% of nurses at the National Children's Hospital are stressed, higher than some other hospitals in Hanoi as well as across the country.
A group of doctors and nurses from the National Children's Hospital has just announced the results of a study on the stress levels of 287 nurses at the hospital. The study lasted 3 months, from April to July 2017.
The results showed that 42% of nurses at the hospital were stressed, higher than the national average and higher than some hospitals in Hanoi. In particular, nurses in the outpatient department were under more pressure.
A nurse in the outpatient department shared: “This is the gateway area of the hospital, the first place where children come. The older children scream, the younger children cry, the parents of the patients are stressed, so it is always noisy here. Normally, the patients’ families cannot hear us, so we always have to shout. The staff in the same area understand, but people from other places think we are arguing, and some are even afraid to interact.”
|
| Nurses take care of children at the National Children's Hospital. |
The research team recommends that hospitals ensure that work assignments are appropriate to the expertise and capabilities of nurses. Hospitals should reduce noise where possible, and divide waiting areas and examination areas for patients to reduce sound resonance.
Previously, research by Associate Professor, Dr. Le Thanh Tai, Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy with nearly 400 nurses at all three levels showed that the central level had the highest rate of stress.
Up to 72% thought of too much work. More than 50% thought of unreasonable rest time, lack of professional training, pressure to meet deadlines to complete work. More than 30% thought of the nature of the job having to explain to many people, lack of equipment, too hot...
Factors that cause stress for nurses include: reactions of patients and their families, seniority, working too many hours, high-pressure work, working in conditions lacking machinery and equipment, crowded, noisy, exposed to many pathogens, prone to injury, unsatisfactory income and work with little opportunity for advancement...
In Vietnam, currently 70% of patient care work is the responsibility of nurses, so stress will reduce the health of nurses, possibly causing some bad behaviors that directly affect the health of patients.
The country currently has about 73,000 doctors and 130,000 nurses, equivalent to 1.7 nurses/doctor. This is the lowest ratio in Southeast Asia and much lower than other countries in the world. For example, in the Philippines it is 5.1; in Indonesia it is 8.0; in Thailand it is 7.0.
Vietnam aims to increase the nurse/doctor ratio to 2.3 by 2020 with over 200,000 nurses./.
