Nurses experiences on work-related health in the Philippines : An interview study

Abstract: Background: The nursing profession is known to be a stressful job and nurses worldwide encounters events that is affecting their health. When nurses experience poor health, sentential events such as medical errors could increase, it could also have a negative effect on the teamwork which leads to a decreased quality and safety within the healthcare. Aim: The aim of the study was to describe Filipino nurses’ experience of work-related factors influencing their health. Method: Semi structured interview with ten nurses, five nurses from a private sector and five from a public sector in Manila, Philippines. The analysis was constructed as a conventional content analysis. Result: From the analysis three categories, psychological health factors, physical health factors and supportive health factors emerged from eight subcategories. From psychological health factors three subcategories was pointed out: high demands from supervisors and relatives, working with inexperienced nurses and work overload. The second category: physical health factors have three subcategories attached: violence from relatives, exposure from patients and poor ventilation availability. The last category named supportive health factors includes the two subcategories: Functioning teamwork and good protection measures for nurses. Conclusion: The nurses expressed factors and elements that had been affecting their work-related health in the Philippines. For future research these factors found in this study could be addressed to maintain and improve the nurses’ work-related health.