The Impact of Stress on The Work Performance of COVID-19 Isolation Room Nurses at Hospitals in Timor

Abstract

The incidence of Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in East Nusa Tenggara has increased tremendously since April 2020. This has caused nurses to experience anxiety and stress due to fears of a shortage of special COVID-19 inpatient rooms. This study aimed to analyze the correlation between stress and the work performance of the COVID-19 isolation room nurses in mainland Timor. This cross-sectional study involved 278 nurses who worked in the COVID-19 isolation rooms of three hospitals on Timor Island. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-42) and the Nurse Work Performance Sheet were applied to obtain the data. The results demonstrated that 64 respondents exhibited severe stress which 53 showed poor performance and 11 displayed adequate performance. There was a relationship between work stress and the work performance of the COVID-19 isolation room nurses (p-value = 0.001). This study did not measure other variables that are most likely correlated with work performance, but the result indicates the need for treatments for the nurses who work in such rooms to prevent worse conditions