Mental health and quality of life among doctors, nurses and other hospital staff

Numerous studies have shown that doctors, nurses or other hospital staff may suffer from tremendous stress at work. A high level of work-related stress might increase vulnerability to mental illness and result in a poor quality of clinical care. This study was conducted in a Taiwanese regional general hospital. Minor psychiatric disorder, depressive disorder and quality of life were assessed for all staff, using self-rating questionnaires including the Chinese Health Questionnaire 12-item version, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale and World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale brief version. Nearly half of the staff had either a minor psychiatric disorder or depressive disorder. Nurses and pharmacists had the highest prevalence. The risk factors included single/divorced and being a nurse or pharmacist. Quality of life for hospital staff was poor, as compared with the Taiwanese norms, and was even worse for the nurses and pharmacists. In conclusion, the management teams of hospitals should pay more attention to the mental condition of all hospital staff, especially nurses and pharmacists. Adequate staffing, support, counselling or psychological intervention are required for further management, and may logically result in better mental health on the part of the staff and a better quality of care. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.