Presente no trabalho, mesmo doente: o presenteísmo na enfermagem

Abstract

The presenteeism is described as the physical presence of the employees in the workplace however due to physical or mental problems they are not able to fulfil their professional tasks. It may lead to a loss of work productivity and it may bring even more consequences on the work process comparing to absenteeism. Considering nursing field presenteeism may trigger serious effects on the organization of work affecting workers’ health and the provided assistance. The aims of this study were outlined as following: General: describe presenteeism and analyze its association with occupational factors and health conditions among nursing team in an University Hospital in Juiz de Fora – MG; Specific: to translate to Brazilian Portuguese, to proceed a cultural adaptation and to assess psychometric properties, reliability and validity of the instrument selected to measure presenteeism: Stanford Presenteeism Scale (SPS-6); to identify the prevalence of presenteeism among nursing team; to assess occupational factors associated with presenteeism among nursing professionals and test the association between presenteeism and health conditions of nursing team. A cross-sectional study with 27 nursing workers was developed. Data collection was carried out through a questionnaire-interview applied by interviewers from August to September 2011. The questionnaire was made from a part of the instrument which has already been tested and validated during a research carried out in Oswaldo Cruz Institut, FIOCRUZ, considering a reduced version of “Effort and Reward Scale” and “Stanford Presenteeism Scale” (SPS-6). SPS adaptation process included six aspects of equivalence (conceptual, semantic, operational, item, measure, functional equivalences). The analyses were based on the study of test-retest reliability carried out with a subsample of 50 workers from the main study. Results suggest an adequacy of the instrument taking into account its Brazilian Portuguese version indicating its use in the context of the study population and in other similar populations. The main reasons of the described presenteeism were the absence causing an overload of demands to their work colleagues. Thus this absence affects the provided assistance. Health hazards that affect the most workers’ performance were headache/migraine, allergies, asthma, rhinitis, stomach and intestinal problems and spinal problems. Taking into consideration socio demographic variables, age was associated with presenteeism as workers aged up to 40 years old have shown the highest level of loss in their performance. Concerning occupational variables we have identified association between presenteeism with desire to quit nursing, job strain and excessive commitment. We have found presenteeism in those who presented fair/poor health. In this way an association between absenteeism, disease and presenteeism was identified. The moment we had analyzed an association between the study variables and the two dimensions of presenteeism proposed by SPS-6, completing work and concentration maintained, we have noticed lower scores in the dimension concentration maintained. Thus presenteeism resulted in a decrease in the ability to concentrate, interfering in a negative way in the work of nursing team and in workers’ health.