Association of Working Experience and Salary with Occupational Stress among Nurses

Objective: To determine the association of working experience and salary with occupational stress among nurses at tertiary care public sector hospitals in Karachi. Methods: This analytical cross sectional study was carried out at Civil Hospital and Dow University Hospital, Karachi from January 2015 to November 2015. Study participants were 265 registered nurses. Convenience sampling method was used to access the subjects for data collection. Data were gathered through pretested and semi structured occupational stress questionnaire. Chi-square test was used to determine the association of salary and working experience with occupational stress. Results: Nearly half participants with 6-10 years of experience had severe stress. Working experience (p value < 0.001) and salary (p value 0.011) has significant association with occupational stress. Furthermore, 47.5% nurses with income 25,000-34,000 PKR had severe stress. Conclusion: The study concluded that salary and working experience has impact with occupational stress among nurses.