Work-Related Fatigue and the Effective Factors in the Iranian Nurses

Background & Aims of the Study: Nursing is one of the highly stressful jobs. Nurses have to provide health service, in many cases, to the patients with incurable disease. Working in such environment induces severe and permanent mental pressures, which in long-run can create fatigue and negative effects on performance of the nurses. The main objective of the present study is to survey effects of occupational fatigue and the pertinent factors on the nurses working in Kermanshah hospitals. Materials & Methods: The study is a cross -sectional study conducted on 112 nurses in Kermanshah-based hospitals in 2015. Data gathering was performed using job information and demographics questionnaire and Sweden occupational fatigue inventory (SOFI). The collected data was analyzed in SPSS-16. Results: The results showed that 67.9% of the nurses suffered from low and moderate fatigue, 23.2% suffered from high fatigue, and 8.9% suffered from very high fatigue. The highest mean scores of fatigue symptoms in the nurses were obtained by burnout, inability, drowsiness, yawning, and disinterest. The results showed significant relationship between occupational fatigue and its aspects. Fatigue in men was higher than that of women and it was more evident in married participants comparing with unmarried participants. In addition, nurses with masters’ degree, those in evening and overnight shifts, nurses with a second job, and the participants who expressed dissatisfaction with their job and their colleagues showed more occupational fatigue.  Conclusions: The results showed that work-related fatigue was moderate to high in the participants. Therefore, it is recommended that nurses can consider some items to manage fatigue like reducing overworking, sleeping enough, using good nutrition and enough rest to improve the work system.