Self-Reported Occupational Stress, Environment, Working Conditions on Productivity and Organizational Impact among Nursing Staff in Nigerian Hospitals

Abstract

Background: Occupational stress and burnout are both one of the factors that bedevil the healthcare sector in developing countries, particularly in Nigeria. The study explored the perceived impact of working condition on the productivity of nursing staffs in selected hospitals in south-west Nigeria. Methodology: Descriptive survey design, comprising of 200 respondents selected randomly. Data were collected using questionnaires and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data generated. The reliability of the instrument was determined using test-re-test at the interval of two weeks. Results: Majority 106 (53%) of the respondents reported that work stress caused increased rate of absenteeism among nurses, high staff turnout and deterioration in quality of service provided to patients. Majority (87.0%) of the respondents were females, while (13.0%) were males. Respondents were aged between 26 and 35 years and were married. About 79% of respondents agreed that their workplace had a warm, friendly and a pleasant atmosphere. However, 47.5% of respondents said that the work overload was too high and they were unable to cope with its demands. Conclusions and Implications for Practice: Stress arising from poor working conditions can have adverse impact on the organization with the most common detrimental effects being increased absenteeism, deterioration in the morale of nurses, lack of job satisfaction and performance. To improve the organization’s effectiveness, employer must implement strategies that are beneficial to both employees and health organization because hospital workers face variety of highly stressful working conditions while meeting the physical and psychological needs of patients.