Factors Contributed to Work-Related Stress among Healthcare Workers at a London NHS Hospital Trust - Dissertation Example

Recent research suggests a link between overtime and the occurrence of illnesses and injuries in nurses (De Castro et al. 2010). This occurrence of overtime is because hospitals need to have nurses on-call 24 hours a day so that when the need arises, nurses are there to provide the needed help to patients; when there are few nurses in a hospital, these nurses are forced to work for more hours (Chang et al. 2005). While there is no hard and fast rule that HCWs should work extra hours, for the most part, the HCWs decide to clock in more hours than needed because this notion of helping becomes a morality issue. This of course further leads to stress and thus affects the performance of the HCWs.

As Garrett (2008) points out, stress due to excessive workload causes fatigue and burnout among HCWs, ultimately leading to an increase in errors in patient care. Studies show that being able to take breaks in-between their work schedule improves nurses’ performance (Witkowski & Dickson 2010). In the present study, it is seen that HCWs from Site A, belonging to the Medicine and A&E and the Women's and Children departments are particularly prone to the stress risks posed by work demands.

On relationships, the more bonded the employee is with his or her colleagues the more they foster their relationship and this in turn positively influences them to do better at work. In addition, there are negative kinds of relationships in the workplace such as bullying and harassment. Bullying and harassment within the nursing community is not new phenomenon. It can be explained through Freire’s (1971) Oppression theory which states that nurses view their profession as that of an oppressed profession because for the most part they are often considered simply as helpers of doctors. This powerlessness, in turn, leads them to direct their hostile frame of mind to their co-workers (Bartholomew 2006; Roberts 1996). In the present study, stressors related to relationships were found to be prevalent and HCWs from the Medicine and A&E and Women and Children’s Departments, especially those from Site A, and those who were full-timers were found to experience these.