Objectives:

To estimate work stress in critical care nursing staff at Ambato General Hospital.

Method:

Quantitative prospective cross-sectional descriptive study. ILO/WHO work stress questionnaire was applied to 23 ICU nursing professionals.

Results:

96.5% of population presented low stress level. Exploratory factor analysis identified seven factors: organizational structure, group support, organizational climate, technology, leader influence, organizational territory and lack of cohesion, explaining 85.21% of variance. Population predominantly female (100%), age 31-40 years (65.2%), married (60.9%), with more than 5 years experience (87%) and third level education (91.3%).

Conclusions:

Low stress levels reflect adequate staff performance and efficient institutional organization, suggesting implementation of preventive strategies to maintain work wellbeing.