Introduction Working in the operating room exposes to multiple psycho-organizational constraints that can cause negative repercussions on the health of the workers and on their performance at work.

Objectives To study psychosocial and organizational risk factors to which paramedical staffs in operating theatres are exposed, and to assess the level of stress at work and its impact on their health and on their performance at work.

Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study involving paramedical staff in operating rooms working in different health structures in Tunis, and based on a survey including the Karasek and Siegrist models.

Results The study included 91 paramedical staff with a mean age of 30.71±7.9 years and a mean professional length of service of 4.80±5.55 years. They worked 7±2.2 hours/day on a fixed morning schedule 54.9% of the time and night shifts 23.1% of the time. They reported 4.5±1.67 surgical procedures/day. They were dissatisfied with the general conditions of their work in 83.6% of cases and 60.5% of them reported being victim of violence. They reported stress-related symptoms such as fatigue (57.8%), headache (56.7%), muscular pain (53.3%), anxiety (45.6%), mood disorders (42.2%), memory (45.6%) and concentration disorders (37.8%). Repercussions on work were repeated delays (34.4%), absenteeism (30%) and the occurrence of errors (9.8%). The assessment of the stress at work showed high psychological demands in 81.3% of cases and low levels of decision latitude in 49.5% of cases. 40.7% was exposed to Efforts–Rewards imbalance. Statistically significant associations were found between job-strain and working in the private sector (p=0.037), between the Effort-Reward imbalance and a number of surgeries >5/day (p=0.024) on the one hand and exposure to violence (p=0.038) on the other.

Conclusion A preventive strategy based on an improvement of working conditions must be implemented against the risk factors of stress in the operating room.