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Abstract
A descriptive survey was conducted by mail to compare levels and sources of stress in critical care nurses (CC), emergency department nurses (ED), and flight nurses. The Nursing Stress Scale (NSS) (Gray-Toft & Anderson, 1981) and a demographic information sheet were completed by a random sample of 148 nurses selected from the membership of three national organizations: The American Association of Critical Care Nurses, The Emergency Nurses' Association, and The National Flight Nurses' Association. Analysis of variance was used to compare the NSS between the three groups of nurses. Results showed that CC nurses experience significantly more work stress than flight nurses. There were no differences between ED nurses and the other groups. The total samples' stress scores were compared to certain demographic variables using Pearson correlation coefficients. These results indicated significant correlations between stress scores and level of education, nursing salaries, and shift worked.
