Evaluation Mental Work Load in Nursing Critical Care Unit with National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX)

One of the factors affecting the behavior and performance of nurses in the workplace is mental work load. This study aimed to assess the mental work load and risk factors on intensive care unit nurses. This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 163 nursing employed in hospitals in Isfahan, Iran. For collecting data, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX), measuring mental load specialized questionnaire was used. The data collected from the questionnaire was entered the NASA-TLX software and the final score of mental work load was determined. Spearman correlation test showed no significant relationship between the variables of subjective and mental work load. But, correlation was significant between the number of cared patients by a nurse on each shift and scores of mental work load in critical care unit nursing (P = 0.004). NASA-TLX showed that the lowest score of six scales was of temporal demand (63.56) and the highest scores was for mental demand (83.50). Based on our findings, the mental work load was high in nursing critical care unit. Therefore, using intervention strategies to reduce mental work load in this group seems to be necessary.