ABSTRACT
Work in a hospital can be pleasurable, challenging and, at times, stressful. Work related stress is managed increasingly by providing for staff discussion and consultation groups. In these instances, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, psychotherapists and hospital chaplains are most likely to be involved in consultations to staff groups because of their training and experience in the management of interpersonal problems. Stress is most likely to arise from the following sources:
1. Unanticipated and stressful tasks, such as caring for young, dying patients; feeling unable to reassure patients about their condition; not having the skills to carry out a special task and having to counsel relatives of a patient in the context of confidentiality rules.
2. Management and organizational difficulties, such as poor communication between managers and staff when decisions that affect one or the other are being made; pressure at work to undertake more clinical or research work; insufficient and inadequate resources, and poor supervision and support.
3. Personal issues, such as pressure from a spouse to change from a night to a day shift; over-identification with some patients and a break down of professional boundaries; difficulty in achieving a balance between time spent at home and time spent at work, and anxiety about acquiring an infection through a spouse who works in a hospital.
