ABSTRACT
Health professionals as individuals are vulnerable to stress. 'This may be related to the nature of their occupation and some stress is probably part of the job. However, if it becomes too great then sickness and absenteeism rise and people leave the professions. Consequences of work-related stress include reduced job satisfaction, poor delivery of care, absenteeism, mental health problems and higher rates of mortality including deaths from suicide and stress related disease (Cushway et al, 1996). There have been a number of studies that have looked at the causes and prevention of occupational stress. Stress is regarded as a major problem in die caring professions. It is important because of the suffering experienced by many people working in the health care sector. Stress could also affect the care of the patients. It may be difficult to continue to maintain technical competence under stress, and even harder to maintain a positive relationship with a patient. Many health care professionals are women, and stress at work has an effect on their families. Activity
List as many stress-related symptoms that you can think of that you might recognise in your own profession, under the following headings
physical
emotional
behavioural
cognitive
See Bond (1988) for examples in nursing
