Level of stress in first line nurses in East Jeddah Hospital, Saudi Arabia during COVID-19 pandemic

Objective: To determine the level of occupational stress and the associated factors among first line nurses in East Jeddah Hospital, Saudi Arabia, during COVID-19. Methodology: Data were collected from 250 first line nurses working in East Jeddah Hospital using survey questionnaires. The questionnaires consisted of occupational stress scale. The collected data were analyzed using Chi-square and descriptive statistical tools of SPSS. Results: We found that 82.8% of the nurses had high level of stress and only 17.2% had moderate stress. The level of occupational stress was affected by various demographic factors, including nurses' age (p=0.000; r=.713), level of education (p=0.000; r=.655) marital status (p=0.014; r=.624), and whether the nurses stayed alone or with others (p=0.000; r=.507). Many work -related factors affect the level of occupational stress, including department of work (p=0.040; r=.756), hours of working (p=.000; r=.542), years of experience (p=.002; r=.734), access to PPEs (p=0.000; r=.594), nature of relationship with the other coworkers (p=0.000; r=.594) and nature of work relationship (p=0.000; r=.597). Conclusion: The high level of stress among the first line nurses varies with sociodemographic and work factors. This calls for the healthcare systems to implement devise measures to address the propagating factors around stress among these nurses.