Exposure of nursing workers to workloads and their consequences

Epidemiological, descriptive, cross-sectional quantitative study, conducted in 12 units of three teaching hospitals in the city of Sao Paulo. The study population consisted of 452 nursing workers and the data was collected from hospital medical records using the software System for Monitoring the Health of Nursing Workers (SIMOSTE). The data was analyzed on the basis of indicators that provided information about organizational dynamics, occupational health problems and their consequences.

Results

The health problem indicators revealed 879 exposures to worloads and 1,355 strain processes. The consequences indicators showed 2,709 lost days per year.

Conclusions

Exposure to different workloads subjects workers to numerous strain processes, which should be monitored in order to implement preventive measures.

Hospital Nursing Staff; Workload; Occupational disease; Occupational Health; Indicators

Scenario/Indicator	Nº beds	Occup. rate_(%)	Total Nº. workers	Nº. nursing workers			I₁	I_{2 (%)}	I_{3 (%)}

				Nurses	Tec/Ass.	Total			Nurs.	Tec/Ass.
H1	84	91	150	24	79	103	1.23	68.7:	23.3:	77.0:
H2	130	80.30	232	17	101	118	0.91	51.0	14.4	85.6
H3	158	74.70	472	84	147	231	1.46	49.0	36.4	63.6

Hospital/Workloads	Biological	Physical	Physiolog.	Mech.	Psychic.	Chemical	Total
H1	113.46	0.00	84.62	7.69	30.77	0.00	119
H2	416.67	0.00	393.33	120	186.67	13.33	322
H3	489.74	0.00	343.59	38.46	187.18	10.26	411

Total	375	0.00	296	55	145	8	-

ICD Group 2/hospitals	H1		H2		H3		Total

	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Consequences of. external causes (traumas)	4	3.36	21	6.52	21	5.11	46	5.40
External contamination and communicable diseases. (biological accidents)	0	0.00	3	0.93	0	0.00	3	0.35
D. skin & subcutaneous tissue	6	5.04	5	1.55	2	0.49	13	1.53
D. circulatory system	4	3.36	13	4.04	7	1.70	24	2.82
D. digestive system	5	4.20	16	4.97	18	4.38	39	4.58
D. genitourinary system	1	0.84	4	1.24	14	3.41	19	2.23
D. respiratory system	25	21.01	58	18.01	80	19.46	163	19.13
D. eyes and annexes	5	4.20	14	4.35	37	9.00	56	6.57
D. ear and mastoid process	5	4.20	6	1.86	6	1.46	17	2.00
D. nervous system	6	5.04	25	7.76	39	9.49	70	8.22
D. musculoskeletal system	38	31.93	111	34.47	119	28.95	268	31.46
D. infectious and parasitic	14	11.76	26	8.07	49	11.92	89	10.45
Mental & behavioral disorders	6	5.04	20	6.21	19	4.62	45	5.28

Overall total	119	100	322	100	411	100	852	100

Scenario	Type of missed work day	Mean days/report	No. reports	%
H1	Absence from work by occupational accident	21.5	43	12.0
	Sick leave	2.8	308	85.8
	Absence	1	8	2.2
	Total		359	100

H2	Absence from work by occupational accident	17.0	459	38.8
	Sick leave	2.5	725	61.2
	Absence	0	0	0
	Total		1,184	100.0

H3	Absence from work by occupational accident	20.4	143	12.3
	Sick leave	2.5	1023	87.7
	Absence	0	0	0
	Total		1,166	100.0

Total	Absence from work by occupational accident	17.9	645	23.8
	Sick leave	2.6	2,056	75.9
	Absence	1	8	0.3
	Total		2,709	100.0

Universidade de São Paulo, Escola de Enfermagem Av. Dr. Enéas de Carvalho Aguiar, 419 , 05403-000 São Paulo - SP/ Brasil, Tel./Fax: (55 11) 3061-7553, - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: reeusp@usp.br

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[1] Correspondence Addressed to: Patrícia Campos Pavan Baptista. School of Nursing of USP. Av. Dr. Enéas de Carvalho Aguiar, 419 – Cerqueira Cesar. CEP 05403-000 São Paulo, SP, Brazil. pavanpati@usp.br