General health and related factors in employed nurses in Medical-Educational Centers in Rasht

Abstract Introduction: Health is the essential right of every human and a social goal to be considered by all states and organizations. Among this the health of nurses who are important part of country health system is under greater danger than other social groups due to a variety of reasons. Objective: This study aims to determine the level of health and its related factors in nurses employed in medical-educational hospitals in Rasht. Methods: In this cross sectional study, 374 employed nurses in 8 Medical- Educational Centers affiliated to Guilan University of Medical Sciences were selected by stratified sampling and evaluated using Bio- data questionnaire, and Goldberg General Health (GHQ) Questionnaire. Data were analyzed by using descriptive (mean, median, standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Mann-Whitney U, Chi square). Results: Findings showed that 111 (29.7%) nurses were healthy while 263 of them (70.3%) were unhealthy. The highest mean score of unhealthy nurses was related to social performance domain (11.35 &plusmn; 3.13) and the lowest mean was related to depression area (2.18 &plusmn; 2.86). The results also indicated a significant statistical relationship between the variables of general health with marital status (p=0.057), care of elderly and handicapped child (p<0.001), partnership (p=0.010), job status (p=0.013), organizational post (p=0.04), second job (p<0.001), and job interests (p<0.001) in nurses. Conclusion: Since nurses are in danger of losing their health due to the nature of their jobs which can affect their quality of service, thus some precautions should be taken regarding personal as well as organizational dimensions to promote and improve their general health.