Stressed workers are more likely to be unhealthy. However relation between professional stress and anxiety and/or depressive disorders remains controversial.

The aims of this study are to assess the degree of professional stress among nurses at the general hospital and to determine correlation between stress and anxiety and/or depressive symptoms.

70 nurses through a random draw according to the specialty had participated. Six medical departments and three surgery departments were selected from eighteen departments. We have used two self-administered questionnaires: the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD).

The group mean age of was 33.7 ± 9.1 years.

PSS mean score in our group was 43.2 ± 6.9 and HAD mean score was 17.4 ± 4.2.

13% of nurses had pathological stress level (PSS Score > 50). We also noted that 33% of nurses had anxiety symptoms and 44% had depressive symptoms.

No correlation was found between PSS score and HAD score and between PSS score and the two sub-scales of HAD.

Variables such as female gender (p= 0.003), conflicts with colleagues (p= 0.016) were significantly correlated with high anxiety symptoms.

For depressive symptoms, we found that nurses working in surgery department are more depressed than those in medicine department (p= 0.03).

37% of nurses had criteria of major depressive disorder.

13% of nurses had pathological stress level. Third of them had anxiety symptoms and less than half had depressive symptoms.