Job stress and depression: A study among doctors and nurses in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

After the socio-economic transition in 1990, Mongolian health care system was renewed in terms of financing, service delivery, and numerous terms had been applied such as compulsory national health insurance system. Unlike the colonization, countries which were under strong influence of Soviet Union, Mongolian health care system used to be centrally planned with absence of community involvement and participation. The health care system was focused on specialized health service; with increased number of hospitals and beds, number of specialized medical doctors and health expenditure while was the one of the worst health status countries. Medical doctors and nurses in Ulaanbaatar are in higher risk of encountering job stress and depression. For instance, primary care physicians serve 40-50 patients per day and workload is burdened by serving the unregistered migrants from rural areas and yet receives no reward for those additional tasks. The internists feel their job stress caused by enormous workload they perform needs to be seriously taken into consideration. This reveals that there are rather certain potential sources of job stress and depression among professionals working in health care. Job stress and depression are important issues for health care professionals because they are considered significant risks to health and well being of physicians. However, the problems are much acknowledged as a phenomenon that significantly impacts modern cultures. In case of Mongolia, it is claimed that the job stress and depression driven by over workload has somewhat negatively influenced their attitude towards work, though it has never been carefully investigated