THE EFFECT OF WORKLOAD CAUSED BY THE PANDEMIC ON DEPRESSION, ANXIETY AND STRESS LEVELS IN SURGICAL AND OPERATING ROOM NURSES

Abstract

Purpose: To determine the effect of pandemic workload on depression, anxiety and stress levels insurgical and operating room nurses.Methods: study is planed a descriptive and cross-sectional . This study sample was 166 nurses (92% ofall surgical nurses) working in surgical units a state hospital, all of whom agreed to participate in this studyjuly 1, 2020.The data were collected by personal information form, the workload Questionnaire and the Depression,Anxiety, Stress Scale-21. Number, mean, SD, percentage calculations, t test, ANOVA test, the Spearmancorrelation test and multivariate linear regresyon were used for data analysisResults: The mean age of the nurses was 38.75±8.38 years, 86% were women, 78% wereundergraduate, 63% chose their profession willingly, 64% reported high stress in the pandemic and64.5% high workload. When nurses who chose voluntarily and nurses who do not voluntarily choose theirprofession were compared, a statistically highly significant difference was found between the meanworkload scores. As a result of the variance analysis performed between the departments (operatingroom, surgical intensive care units, surgical clinics) and DASS-21 and the mean scores of all subdimensions and workload scales, the difference between the units was found to be statistically significant(p