Absenteeism in the nursing team at the emergency unit of a university hospital

Abstract

Absenteeism is the term used to describe absences from work by employees. These absences are defined as planned and unplanned. For this specific study, planned absences were days in lieu, statutory holidays, and vacations, and unplanned were missed days, medical leave, sickness, and other leaves. The aim was to investigate the actual number of absences by technicians and nursing auxiliaries in a University Hospital emergency unit in São Paulo state to define a Technical Safety Index - IST. Quantitative descriptive methodology was used, and data were collected since 2006, January until 2007, June from hospital records after authorization from the service. One of the main findings was that IST was about 51%. We conclude that, although close, it is slightly higher than found in another reality of University Hospitals. From the unplanned absences, medical leave stood out; this could be related to team overload.