The Quality of Life of the Staff of Emergency Departments of Hospitals in Isfahan Province, Iran, in Year 2016

As the largest and most complete providers of primary healthcare services, employees of the emergency departments are constantly faced with not predetermined risks and stresses, which can often disturb their peace, and reduce their quality of lives. Therefore, this study aimed to recognize the factors affecting the quality of life of the emergency department staff (i.e., physicians, nurses, and emergency medicine specialist) of hospital in Isfahan Province, Iran, in year 2016. This descriptive and analytical study was conducted using the census method, and employed the 26-item World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire to evaluate and detect the factors affecting the quality of life of 584 employees working in the emergency departments. Data analysis was carried out using one-way analysis of variance, Kruskal-Wallis, and multiple regressions tests. The mean quality of life score was 81.31 ± 16.25 for nurses, whereas it was 85.91 ± 15.05 and 90.15 ± 17.76 for physicians and emergency medicine specialists, respectively, with a significant difference (P = 0.030). In this regard, factors with significant impact on the quality of life of all the emergency department staff were reported to be age below 30 years (P = 0.010), workplace (P = 0.002), and warm climate (P = 0.040). Due to the sharp decrease in the quality of life of nurses in the emergency departments of hospitals in Isfahan Province, healthcare authorities must recognize the factors which threaten and decrease the quality of life in order to improve the quality of life and eliminate related barriers among the employees of the emergency departments, especially the nurses.