Occupational stress and the current world of the work: repercussions in the nurses' daily life

Abstract

It is an interpretative study, with qualitative approach, that had as objective to analyze the repercussions of the occupational stress in the nurses' daily life, in a public hospital institution, in the context of the world of the current work. The conceptual theoretical mark was based in the approach social report, focusing the discussion regarding the world of the current work, to the work process in health and to the day-to-dayness, starting from Antunes' studies, Mendes Gonçalves and Heller. It was used as technique of information collection the thematic oral history. The survey was conducted in a public hospital placed in Natal city, State of Rio Grande do Norte, during the year of 2005. The analysis of the information was accomplished with base in elements of the dialectic method. The discoveries appear that in relation to the phenomenon of the occupational stress, the nurses recognized their existences and the relationship of the same with the accomplished work, defining it, mainly, as the sensation of being in the limit, in the imminence of the disarray and as physical and mental fatigue. It is concluded that the occupational stress due to a process of hospital work, marked by precarious conditions of work and for the increase of the work day, it has strong repercussions in the daily professional and personal of the interviewed nurses.

Key words: Stress; Occupational health nursing; Working conditions.