Cognitive changes in nurses working in intensive care units.

OBJECTIVE: To measure the levels of stress, anxiety, and depression of nurses working in ICUs, relating them to levels of attention before and after 24 hours.

METHOD: An observational, quantitative, analytical study with 18 nurses undergoing an inventory of stress, anxiety, and depression, as well as assessment of attention levels and psychomotor functioning.

RESULTS: Sixty-one percent showed positive for stress. Depression was observed in 33%; and anxiety in 99.9%. A strong correlation between stress and depression (ρ = 0.564 with p <0.05) and anxiety (ρ = 1 with p <0.05) was observed. There was a weak correlation between stress and task execution time in M2 (ρ = 0.055) for TMT A, a fact that did not occur in M0 (ρ = -0.249).

CONCLUSION: The study shows that the workload of the nurses working in 24-hour shifts in the ICU is correlated with high levels of stress, decreases in the attention process, and psychomotor decline.