Abstract

Background: Emergency department (ED) nursing is a special type of nursing. In addition to the stressors that nurses face such as workload, dealing with different patients, role conflicts, lack of support, and domestic work struggles, many correlational and longitudinal studies have confirmed that chronic stress can lead to impaired immune function. Thus, ED nurses are at greater risk than others in general wards for decreased secretion of immunoglobulin A (sIgA) in saliva. The current study aimed to investigate the correlation between Salivary Immunoglobulin A and stress level among nurses' Methods: The study was conducted by selecting a non-probability (purposive) sample. The sample size consisted of 45 nurses in the emergency department and 45 nurses in the general ward. Through interviewing each person, the researcher prepared a draft of 57 items in nine domains (Extended Nursing Stress Scale). After the interview, a saliva sample was collected from each participant for (sIgA) analysis by ELISA technique. Results: ED nurses have higher scores than GW nurses. Scores for ENSS subscales such as lack of resources and conflict with other professionals were higher in ED than in GW nurses. The ED nurses had Significantly lower sIgA secretion rates than the GW nurses. Conclusion: ED nurses, who reported moderate level of professional stress, showed significantly lower secretion rates of salivary IgA as compared to GW nurses. As these salivary biomarkers are reflective of the mucosal immunity, results support the inverse relation between stress and mucosal immunity.