The effect of COVID-19 on fatigue, stress and workload in intensive care unit nurses

This study was designed to determine the influence of COVID-19 outbreak on fatigue, stress and workload in intensive care unit nurses. The study was conducted with 125 nurses, who worked at Prof. Dr. Cemil Taşcıoğlu City Hospital intensive care unit between the dates of November 2020 and April 2021 and voluntarily participated in the study. The study data was obtained through an online questionnaire which included Personal Information Form, Workload Scale, Perceived Stress Scale and Piper Fatigue Scale. The data obtained was analyzed by NCSS (Number Cruncher Statistical System) and median, standard deviation, frequency values were determined and Student t Test, Mann Whitney U Test, One-Way Anova Test, Kruskal Wallis Test, Pearson and Spearman's Correlation Analysis were conducted for statistical analysis purposes. The median age of the participant nurses is 26.84±4.51 and of these participants, 71.2 % are women, 90 % are single and 80.8 % has Bachelor's degree. The data illustrates that 83.2 % of the nurses are concerned about contamination while tending COVID(+) or suspected patients, 91.2 are concerned about spreading the infection to their families in case that they become contaminated and the necessity to wear protective gear during the shifts have been detrimental for fatigue and workload for 91.2 % of the participants. 31.2 % of the nurses had been COVID(+) throughout the outbreak. The total scores for the Perceived Stress Scale, Workload Scale and Piper Fatigue Scale are found to be 23.35±5.44, 37.34±7.45 and 7.43±1.5, respectively. In the study, the perceived stress scale scores were found to be relatively higher in nurses who consider quitting their jobs. In nurses who are concerned about being contaminated while tending COVID(+) patients, workload scale scores have been observed to be relatively higher. The Piper Fatigue Scale scores of those nurses who are content about their working hours and are able to spare time for their rest were found to be relatively lower. It has been determined that the nurses who have relatively higher perceived stress scores also have higher workload and the participants with high perceived stress and workload scores were more fatigued. As a result of our study, it has been concluded that COVID-19 pandemic has had detrimental effects on fatigue, stress and workload in nurses.