The Impact Of Work Stress On Job Satisfaction And Work Performance Of Medical Staff In Belarusian Hospitals

Stress has become a constant phenomenon in the modern world,and researchers from around the world are studying its sources,properties and consequences.In the process of studying it,scientists identified the concept of work stress,which formed the basis of this work.Scientists have found that for workers of the social sphere,work stress is the greatest problem,because they experience the highest levels of work stress and suffer from its consequences.This group of workers include,among other,medical personnel.Thus,doctors and nurses of Belarus working in the state hospitals of the Minsk region participated in this study and formed its basis.Research objectives determined the scope of the study.The main objectives of conducting the research were as follows: to examine the levels of work stress,job satisfaction and work performance of medical staff in Belarus;to examine whether there is a difference in levels of work stress,job satisfaction and work performance depending on different work and social characteristics;to examine the relationships between occupational stress,job satisfaction and job performance among nurses and doctors in Belarusian hospitals;to establish whether work stress affects job satisfaction and work performance differently for doctors and nurses.Due to the fact that medical personnel are most exposed to high levels of work stress,the study of its causes is an important task for researchers.Work stress,through reducing work performance of medical staff,leads to a deterioration in the quality of provision of medical care.Therefore,it is very important to study work stress and find ways to reduce it.Moreover,there are practically no studies aimed at studying work stress among medical personnel in Belarus,and according to previous studies,the results may vary for different countries and regions.And what is most important,all previous studies are aimed at the middle level of medical personnel(nurses),but do not study the work stress of doctors who have higher educational background and greater level of responsibility.In accordance with the objectives,three variables were used in this study: work stress is an independent variable,work performance is a dependent variable,and job satisfaction is a mediator between an independent and a dependent variable.Hypotheses were constructed on the basis of the research model and theoretical background.The study involved 172 respondents-doctors and nurses from various state hospitals in the Minsk region in Belarus.They were interviewed using a questionnaire which included questions about different working and social characteristics of the respondents,as well as questions relating to levels of work stress,job satisfaction and work performance.Statistical analysis of the data was carried out using the SPSS program and the Microsoft Excel.Various types of statistical analysis have been used,such as descriptive statistics,which were used to analyze all the data collected.It includes such indexes as frequencies,minimum and maximum values,measures of central tendency(mean,median and mode),measures of variability(range,interquartile range,standard deviation).Cronbach alpha was used to measure the reliability and inter-correlation of instruments used in the questionnaire.Correlation analysis,regression analyses,multiple regression analyses and Sobel test were used to test hypothesis.The results of the study showed,that medical staff in Minsk region do not experience high level of work stress.Moreover,the levels of job satisfaction and performance are quite high.Thus,the medical staff is satisfied with their current work and show high performance indicators.The impact of various working and social characteristics of the respondents on work stress,job satisfaction and work performance were studied.Despite the fact that all interviewed doctors and nurses work in public hospitals,the levels of work stress and job satisfaction differ between different hospitals.Moreover,in different departments workers experience different levels of stress and work satisfaction.The levels of work stress also vary depending on the gender of the respondents.The level of work stress between doctors and nurses was different.So,doctors showed a higher level of work stress.The levels of work stress,job satisfaction and work performance are also different,depending on age,work experience and marital status.All hypotheses have been confirmed.Thus,the work stress of medical workers reduces their performance and job satisfaction,and job satisfaction leads to an increase in work performance.Moreover,job satisfaction is a mediator in the relationship between work stress and performance,reducing the negative impact of stress on the performance of doctors and nurses.One of the most important tasks of this work was to find out how the relationships of the three indicators differ for the two categories of medical workers-doctors and nurses.According to the results,the stress of doctors affects their satisfaction and performance much more negatively than nurses.This result is a contribution to the existing literature,because all previous studies were based on the study of these indicators only in nurses.And this study shows that even doctors are medical personnel,but their indicators are very different from such of nurses.Implications,limitations and recommendations for future studies were also noted.