| Abstract: | OBJECTIVE: to analyze the relation between the workload and the physiological stressreactions among nurses working at a hospital service. METHODS: cross-sectional, correlational, quantitative study, involving 95 nurses, in 2011and 2012. Spearman''s bivariate Correlation Test was used. RESULTS: most subjects are female, between 23 and 61 years old and working between 21 and78 hours per week. The most frequent physiological reactions were back pain,fatigue/exhaustion, stiff neck and stomach acidity, with 46.3% of the subjectspresenting low and 42.1% moderate physiological stress responses. No correlationwas found between the workload and the physiological stress responses. CONCLUSION: although most of the nurses work more than 36 hours/week, physiologically, theydo not present high reaction levels in response to stress. These workers deal withconflicts in the vertical and horizontal relations between professionals, familymembers and patients. In that sense, taking care of professionals who offer healthservices can be a fundamental strategy, as good user care mainly depends onhealthy teams. |
