Associação do nível de atividade física com a presença de sintomas osteomusculares e com a capacidade para o trabalho em profissionais de Enfermagem

Abstract

The health of the worker is an important field that has been gaining prominence in the last decade. Globalization and economic growth culminated in changes in working conditions, such as increased workload, accumulation of functions and collections for productivity, considered to be exhausting and accelerating the process of worker's illness. The nursing has an expressive number of professionals in the national scope, totaling 1,922,316, considered a stressful and exhausting profession, which can lead to the illness of the professional, thus justifying studies on this professional category. Thus, the objective of the study was to describe the sociodemographic profile of the nursing professionals of a public hospital and the presence of musculoskeletal symptoms (Article 1), as well as to evaluate the association between the level of physical activity, musculoskeletal symptoms and the ability to their work (Article 2). The study involved 37 nursing professionals working in the medical and surgical clinics of a public hospital of both sexes, with a mean age of 31.9±7.9 years, working in the morning (56.7%), women (73%), in a stable union (51.3%), white (54%), catholic (35.1%) and with technical schooling (56.7%). The professionals were evaluated through the Nordic Osteomuscular Symptoms Questionnaire (NOSQ), Work Capability Index (WCI) and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). The musculoskeletal symptoms were present in 97.3% and 67.5% of professionals in the period of the last 12 months and seven days, respectively. The regions of major involvement were the lower back and the upper back. The capacity for work found shows good indexes, with a mean total score of 39±5.7 points. The level of physical activity evaluated corresponded to the average of 1,295.2 ± 1,382.4 weekly minutes, thus classified as active. No correlations were found between physical activity level and work ability (r= 0.03 and p= 0.08) and the intensity of musculoskeletal symptoms (r= 0.1 and p= 0.39). It was concluded that the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in nursing professionals of a public hospital is high, that they have a good capacity for work and are active. It is important to emphasize the need for public health policies to prevent and promote the health of these professionals, seeking their highest value and, consequently, improving the service provided to the user.