O absenteísmo de profissionais de enfermagem em um hospital universitário na pandemia de Covid-19

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the absenteeism of professionals in several areas, with Nursing being one of the most affected fields due to the peculiarities of its work process. Research question: how did the COVID19 pandemic impact absenteeism due to illness among nursing professionals at a University Hospital in the Southern Region of Brazil? Objective: to analyze the relationship between absenteeism due to illness among nursing professionals and the COVID-19 pandemic in a University Hospital in the Southern Region of Brazil in three distinct periods (pre-pandemic, pandemic and pandemic with immunization). Methodology: epidemiological study with a quantitative descriptive-exploratory approach, consisting of documentary, retrospective research from a secondary source. The time frame from March 11, 2019 to March 10, 2022 was used, divided into three distinct periods. The studied population included nursing professionals who had sick leave records in their workers' records. For data collection, information provided by workers' health bodies and official health expertise that serve professionals at the hospital institution were used. The data was analyzed and segmented according to the periods stipulated in the study, through comparison and descriptive statistics. The analysis covered aspects such as professional category, unit of activity and reasons for absences, excluding those not related to diseases. Results: There was an increase in sick leave during the pandemic. In relation to the pre-pandemic period, subsequent periods had around three hundred more absences each. In the first year of the pandemic, the highest number of days of absence was recorded (25,831 days), an increase of more than 10 thousand days compared to the previous period. Nursing Assistants registered more absences in the second period studied. As for the units, Medical Clinic, Surgical Center and Adult ICU were the sectors with the highest number of absences in the second and third periods. Finally, being the fourth main cause of absence during the first period, in the pandemic years, Infectious and Parasitic Diseases became the main motivator for absence. This change happened, above all, because of COVID-19, which was the cause of 83.46% of sick leave due to infectious and parasitic diseases in the first year of the pandemic and 52.81% in the second year. Conclusion: This evidence indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the absenteeism of Nursing professionals at the hospital researched. However, in addition to reinforcing work with similar results, this study can provide support for the development of policies to combat absenteeism and improve health care.