Stress Factors among Nurses at the Primary and Secondary Level of Public Sector Health Care: The Case of Slovenia

BACKGROUND: Working in nursing is mentally and physically demanding and is one of the most stressful professions. AIM: To determine the basic causes of stress and examine the symptoms of stress among healthcare professionals at the primary and secondary level of health care. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The research was based on the descriptive and causal non-experimental method of empirical research. The independent samples t-test was used. RESULTS: The survey results have shown that those employed in nursing are exposed to stressful situations on a daily basis, most often involving psychological or physical violence in the workplace (M = 4.2), dealing with death (M = 3.9), lack of personnel (M = 3.9) and a high frequency of patients (M = 3.8). The following stress factors cause women greater stress than they do men: relationships among co-workers (t = 2.745; p = 0.006), psychological or physical violence in the workplace (t = 3.492; p = 0.001), and working with difficult patients (t = 2.427; p = 0.017). CONCLUSION: To manage risks, employees and employers must work together and establish a suitable safety and organisational culture, which would enable them to manage and reduce stress.