Background Occupational stress has an impact on health of medical and paramedical staff, on their productivity and on their relationship with the patients.

Aim The aim of this study is to evaluate stress among medical and paramedical staff and compare the degree of this parameter between these groups.

Methods The study is realised in hospital in Rabat, Morocco, among 20 doctors and 54 paramedical staff. The test used is a numeric test which consists on capacity of person to join 11 points for drawing 2 squares and 1 triangle in every 15 subtests. Every subtest remains 40 seconds; the totality of the test lasts 600 seconds. The tested person must put headphones linked to the laptop, and hears during the test different noises. The degree of this noise pollution increases from a subtest to another. Number of write response during each subtest and the total scores are calculated.

Results The preliminary results show that the mean score of write responses obtained under noises among doctors are 47/90, among nurses in anaesthesia and resuscitation are 44/90, among nurses of laboratory are 43/90, among polyvalent nurses are 32/90 and among radiology nurses are 30/90. These scores are significantly different between doctors and all specialties of nurses (p < 0.01). Moreover, the most affected groups by stress are polyvalent and radiology nurses compared to doctors (p < 0.01) and compared to nurses in anaesthesia and resuscitation (p < 0.05), and to nurse of laboratory (p < 0.05).

Conclusion Nurses are more affected by occupational stress than doctors, especially polyvalent and radiology nurses. Several factors could be involved in this occupational pathology. So, deeper investigations are needed.