Comparison of Work-Related Stress between Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine Doctors: A Single Center Cross-Sectional Study

OBJECTIVE: In this study we aimed to examine and compare the stress levels and the factors affecting stress levels of physicians working in Emergency Medicine (EM) and Internal Medicine (IM) Departments. METHOD: This is a cross-sectional study performed in a research and training hospital. The study population consisted of 39 physicians. Professional Life Stress Scale (PLSS), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II) were used. RESULTS: Thirty-nine physicians (female 56.4%; mean age 32.6±6.8 years) included in analysis. They were from EM (n=19; 48.7%), and IM (n=20; 51.3%). Twenty-six (66.7%) participants had a score of 16-30 points indicating a moderate degree of stress in their professional life. The BAI and BDI scores of the participants ranged from 0 to 36 (mean, 8.4±8.9) and 0 to 29 (mean, 7.6±5.9), respectively, which indicated that the participants were below the psychopathological limits in terms of anxiety and depressive symptoms. AAQ-II scores were found to be significantly lower in emergency physicians (p=0.049) indicating that they had a lower level of experiential avoidance than others. Also, AAQ-II scores were found significantly lower in those who had children (p=0.028). CONCLUSION: Working in EM departments for longer periods is associated with higher stress levels while increases the ability to cope with stress. Our study shows that having children is related with decrease in experiential avoidance, hence higher levels of psychological flexibility. Any significant differences were not found between the groups in terms of PLSS, BAI and BDI scores.