[Mental health in the hospital. Analysis of conditions of risk by department, age and gender, for the creation of best practices for the health of nurses].

BACKGROUND

Nurses mental health is still a major and unachieved goal in many public hospital settings. Hospital work organization analysis shows differences in health professions, hospital units, age and gender.

OBJECTIVES

To analyse work organisation and its effects on nurses mental health in three high risks hospital units (Oncoematology, First Aid, General Medicine) in order to improve good practices for nurses health.

METHODS

The Method of Organizational Congruences (72 hours of observation) has been used to detect organizational constraints and their possible effects on nurses' mental health. General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg D., 12 items) and the Check up Surveys for burnout (Leiter MP and Maslach C.) have been used to evaluate the mental health status of the 80 nurses employed (78% women).

RESULTS

High emotional work load in oncoematology Unit, high monotony and repetitiveness with lower emotional load in first Aid Unit, High mental and physical workload in General Medicine Unit. Burnout was significantly higher in General Medicine Unit, followed by First Aid Unit and oncoematology Unit. Female nurses reported more chronic diseases than males. The GHQ showed high frequency of minor psychiatric disorders (58%) in all units, higher in General Medicine Unit (78%).

CONCLUSION

The overall results show how organizational constraints and mental health conditions differ per hospital units, age groups and gender. Good nursing practices, to prevent mental health problems, should therefore be developed specifically in each hospital unit according to these results.