[Evaluation of stress among emergency staff: survey in a Tunisian emergency department].

Objectives: The objectives of this work were to make an inventory of the stress level, to detect various stressors and to describe the working conditions as perceived by staff to pinpoint the factors that might be changed.

Study Design: This survey was conducted from July to August 2012 in all sectors of the emergency department. We used the Karasek model. Collected data were demographic and professional.

Results: We included 107 participants, which represent 61.5% of the whole staff. The median age of participants was 30 years with a male predominance (66%). Scores found place our sample in the dial of "job strain". Only 17.8% of participants were found to be active. No significant correlation between gender, marital status, seniority and emergency risk of developing stress state was found. Age under 30 years (P=0.04) and low social support by supervisors (P=0.02) were predictive of developing stress. Job satisfaction was lower among paramedics. In multivariate analysis, they were much more sensitive to psychological demands that the doctors.

Conclusion: This study could be used to show the importance of preventing this emotional exhaustion in order to improve the quality of health care providers but also the care given in this service.