Alan P. Wolfgang

Job Stress in the Health Professions: A Study of Physicians, Nurses, and Pharmacists

Abstract While considerable research has been devoted to job stress within individual health professions, little information has been available for comparing the sources or levels of stress among different groups of health professionals. To bridge that knowledge gap, the Health Professions Stress Inventory (HPSI) was administered via a mail questionnaire to 291 primary care physicians, 379 registered nurses, and 387 pharmacists randomly selected from across the United States. Mean stress scores on the HPSI were significantly different for all three professions, with nurses reporting the greatest levels of stress. Frequency of exposure to individual stressful job situations also differed significantly among the professional groups. While exploratory in nature, the results of this research emphasize the interprofessional differences that must be considered when considering the management of job stress in the health care system.

A Modified Measure of Need for Cognition

A study was conducted to evaluate a shorter version of Cacioppo and Pettys 34-item measure of an individuals need for cognition. Based on factor loadings from the original scale, 16 items were selected and administered via a mail questionnaire to 94 patients of four physicians. Principal components factor analysis of the 16-item scale yielded one factor which accounted for 38.8% of the variance; coefficient alpha was .88. As hypothesized, scores on the need for cognition scale also were correlated significantly with scores on a health care involvement measure. The shortened version of the need for cognition scale appears to show reasonable reliability and validity, representing a useful tool for researchers concerned with cognition processing. Replication is desirable.

Job stress in the health professions: a study of physicians, nurses, and pharmacists.

While considerable research has been devoted to job stress within individual health professions, little information has been available for comparing the sources or levels of stress among different groups of health professionals. To bridge that knowledge gap, the Health Professions Stress Inventory (HPSI) was administered via a mail questionnaire to 291 primary care physicians, 379 registered nurses, and 387 pharmacists randomly selected from across the United States. Mean stress scores on the HPSI were significantly different for all three professions, with nurses reporting the greatest levels of stress. Frequency of exposure to individual stressful job situations also differed significantly among the professional groups. While exploratory in nature, the results of this research emphasize the interprofessional differences that must be considered when considering the management of job stress in the health care system.

Drug information and educational needs. A survey of rural home health care nurses.

In a study of rural home healthcare nurses drug information and educational needs, data were collected from 40 nurses employed by a community-based public home health agency. The most serious drug-related problem identified by the nurses was patients failure to receive prescribed drugs. The ten types of drug-related information included in the survey were viewed as very useful. The most frequently used sources of drug-related information were reference books, other nurses, and pharmacists.