OBJECTIVE: to examine the perception of stress among critical care nurses in critical from a Brazilian university hospital. METHODS: a demographic questionnaire was used to gather the sample characteristics data. Perception and level of stress was measured with a known stress inventory. RESULTS: the sample consisted of 12 nurses. The majority of the sample was women (91.7%) women; working 10 to 12 hours per day (75%), and less than a half of them (33.4%) had 5 to 10 years of higher education. More than a half of the sample (66.7%) had signs of physical and/or psychological suffering, which are characteristic of the stress resistance phase. CONCLUSION: these findings suggest that critical care nurses may need the special attention to prevent the development of stress and its complications.
Psychological Stress; Nurses; Critical Care Unit; Environment of health care institutions
