Work fatigue and absenteeism in the nursing staff

Abstract

Introduction: Nursing professionals are exposed to mental workload constantly to situations that generate burdens as a consequence of the physical, mental, emotional and economic effort of care and other sociodemographic and occupational factors.

Objective: to describe the association between work fatigue and absenteeism in nursing staff of a private institution in the city of Buenos Aires.

Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out in a private institution of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires from February to April 2022. The sample consisted of 60 nurses, selected by non-probabilistic convenience sampling. This research was developed with the application of the Swedish Occupational Fatigue Inventory (SOFI) questionnaire, contextualized and validated in Spanish.

Results: The sample consisted of 65% of the female sex. The mean age was 39.22±11.59. Of the professionals, 46.7% had a nursing degree. In relation to absence from work during the last 12 months, this was evidenced in 56.7% of the sample; and the average number of days of absence from work during the last 12 months was 15.85±40.63.

Conclusions: In conclusion, the present work highlights the need to take into consideration the study of mental workload and fatigue in the nursing profession, according to the working conditions within the nursing staff. 

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