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Almost Half of Canadian Health Providers Report High Job Stress

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 November 2007, 15:00 CST

By THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO - Nearly half of all health-care providers suffer a high degree of on-the-job stress, says a Statistics Canada study released Tuesday.

The 2003 Canadian Community Health Survey found that among health-care providers, 45 per cent reported that most days at work were "quite" or "extremely" stressful.

That compares with 31 per cent of all other employed Canadians who described their work days that way.

Sixty-seven per cent of head nurses and nurse supervisors reported high on-the-job stress. The proportions ranged from 58 per cent to 64 per cent for medical lab technicians, specialist physicians, general and family practitioners, and registered nurses.

Sean Fordyce, a spokesman for the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, said head nurses and supervisors face pressures at work because they're responsible for scheduling.

"They will face difficulties with the shortage of nurses, trying to find enough people to fill the shifts when nurses go home at the end of the day, trying to explain to the nurses why they're not able to get the vacations that they're due, why they can't get a day off," he explained from Ottawa.

"The stress that exists in that workplace will be felt by everybody there, and that includes the patients."

More nurses are graduating and hiring has improved, he said.

"And it's keeping pace with overall population growth. But what it's not been keeping pace with is an aging population . . . as we get older we need more health care."

But not everyone in the health-care field is experiencing high levels of stress.

Only 19 per cent of dental hygienists, for instance, reported high work stress. Twenty-nine per cent of physiotherapists reported high stress, while the percentage was 34 per cent for nurse aides and orderlies.

In 2003, health-care providers - including doctors, nurses, ambulance attendants, technicians and therapists - made up six per cent of the Canadian workforce aged 18 to 75.

Even when influences outside the job were taken into account, nurses and physicians were significantly more likely to report high work stress than all other health-care workers.

Among providers who reported high levels of stress in their daily lives, 78 per cent also reported elevated work stress. As well, 75 per cent of health workers who reported being "dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied" with their lives reported excessive work stress.

While there was little difference between the proportion of men and women in health-care occupations who reported on-the-job stress, age was a factor: about half of health providers aged 35 to 54 said they experienced elevated work-related tension, the highest among age groups.

In comparison, 41 per cent of those aged 55 to 75 and 31 per cent under 25 said they suffered high job stress.

Longer work hours also boosted stress, according to the study. Health providers who worked 35 hours or more per week were much more likely than those working less than 35 hours to report excess stress.

Those who worked shifts other than regular days also were more likely to be stressed on the job.

Source: Canadian Press

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