Aim. To examine the level of burnout and occupational stress in the group of nurses from four hospital wards. Material and methods. The study was conducted using a personal questionnaire, The Perceived Job Stress Questionnaire and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. 80 nurses working in the Third Jonscher Municipal Hospital in Lodz, from the following wards were tested: Ophthalmology, Internal Medicine and Cardiology, General Surgery and Intensive Care and Anesthesiology. Results. Burnout for the entire group according to the MBI reached the level of 17.7. The highest levels of burnout – Ophthalmology: 19.2; the lowest – Intensive Care and Anesthesiology: 15.8. Scores in the subscales: emotional exhaustion – Ophthalmology: 20.8, General Surgery: 17.6; depersonalization – Ophthalmology: 11.9, Intensive Care and Anesthesiology: 6.5; inefficiency – General Surgery: 29.7, Anesthesiology and Intensive Care: 21.5. Results are consistent to those achieved in the SOP questionnaire, the strongest professional stress was observed at the Department of Ophthalmology – 14.7, the lowest level – on Intensive Care and Anesthesiology – 12.7 Conclusions. Burnout and occupational stress touch the most nurses from the Ward of Ophthalmology, the least – nurses from Intensive Care and Anesthesiology. The feeling of stress and susceptibility to burnout in the group of nurses is high and depends on the specifics of a hospital ward.

Key words: occupational stress, burnout, nursing, occupational load.