Aim: The aim of this paper is to answer the following
questions: 1. Are there any differences
between the results for a university hospital
and those for other companies which suggest
special sources of stress or other shortcomings
of the work environment? 2. Does
comparison of the results for the clinicians
with those for the nurses of the university
hospital reveal any indications of specific occupational
stress?
Collective and Method: Five companies
from different branches of a network for workplace
health promotion, one of them a university
hospital. Survey by means of a standardized
questionnaire asking, e.g., about
“health situation”, “health problems”, “satisfaction”,
“mental state”, “wished for improvements”
at the workplace. The survey was repeated
twice.
Results: Whilst only marginal differences between
the different companies were found
for self-rated state of health and health problems,
the clinicians considered their state of
health to be particularly good. In the university
hospital, the lowest level of job satisfaction
was found and the highest values for the
item “exhausted/tired”. Especially high relative
frequencies were found in the group of
clinicians. Whereas the clinicians considered
that the main need for improvement is in
work organisation, the nurses/male nurses
stated that the appreciation of their work by
their supervisors could be improved.
Conclusions: The present comparison of
organizations yielded the highest values for
occupational stress (tired/exhausted) and the
lowest levels of job satisfaction for clinicians
and nurses; this is a typical high-risk situation
for burnout. At the same time, however, the
clinicians reported the best self-rated state of
health. On the one hand, it is conceivable that
the clinician image requires this latter result;
on the other hand, the specific mental stress
and the precise suggestions for improvement
of working conditions lead to the conclusion
that there is need for action to benefit clinicians
as well as nurses.
A clarification of the question as to whether
the results are due to the special circumstances
of this hospital or whether they are
typical of the branch is still pending.
