OBJECTIVES: determine the feelings of emergency services (ER) pediatricians when facing the circumstances of their work, focusing on burnout components: emotional exhaustion, lack of personal involvement and detachment. METHODS: qualitative research performed in the city of Recife from March to July 2003 in five major public hospitals, using content analysis to understand the "nucleus of meaning" of the messages of 40 semi-structured interviews with pediatricians and seven emergency nurses. RESULTS: these reports convey different feelings: fatigue, exhaustion, anguish and anger stemming from overwork and resources constraints in the face of circumstances involving lives at risk, permeated by the satisfaction of love for the job and self-recognition; fear of committing fatal mistakes; lack of professional qualification when comparing wages with responsibility and effort; exposure to risk of aggression and lawsuits which feed on the lack of hope and increased vulnerability; and commitment to the job. Among recently graduated doctors there's disbelief in change and the wish of giving up. CONCLUSIONS: notwithstanding chronic job stress, healthcare professionals in ER keep up with their commitment of trying to solve day to day problems. There's a trend for emotional exhaustion, depression and feelings of inadequacy and failure reinforcing the need of health promotion and prevention in the work environment.
Professional practice; Job satisfaction; Employee performance appraisal; Emotions
