<b>Absenteeism at the intensive care unit in a school hospital</b> - DOI: 10.4025/cienccuidsaude.v7i0.6554

Abstract

Absenteeism – a staff member’s unexpected absence at work – interferes in the work conditions of the nursing team, overloads punctual professionals with work, increases the institution’s financial costs and potentially affects the quality of care given to patients. This study aimed at analyzing the absenteeism rate (AR) in the ICU-A of a school hospital. It is a descriptive and exploratory research, and its studied population consisted of 56 staff members who worked at the ICU-A in 2006. The AR calculation was based on Chiavenato (1). The ICU-A nursing team’s AR was found to be low (2.55%), and the main cause for staff members’ unexpected absence at work was due to illness (66.95%). In conclusion, despite the low AR observed, the nursing staff was also overloaded at work due to the reduced number of staff members. Thus, absentism is a concern for the quality of assistance given to patients and to the professionals’ work conditions. This field of study needs more careful research, especially with the objective of establishing a more adequate number of staff members and examining the causes for these staff members’ illness absences.