Representação social sobre o risco ocupacional hospitalar / Social representation and hospital occupational risk

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To apprehend the central and periphery elements on the occupational risk and the level of satisfaction with the work, emitted by workers of an academic public hospital. METHODS: The sample was constituted by 84 different graduate health professionals who work for the hospital. The data collection was based on the following instruments: the free evocation from the [quot ]occupational[quot ] risk, an interview semi-structured aiming to capture socio-demographic data and the level of satisfaction of the work developed within the hospital environment, as well as the participant observation. For the analysis of the socio-demographic, it was used the descriptive statistical treatment based on the software Evoc 2000, as well as the Analysis of Content, according to Bardin (1977). These analysis aimed to capture the registrations obtained from the interviews as well as daily notes to verify the possible contradictions and consensus on the professional postures during their work shift. In addition, the analysis were also based on the Theory of the Social Representations and the Theory of the Central Nucleus. RESULTS: The results have demonstrated that the average age of the group is around 38,4 years old; (72.6%) of the work force with a graduate degree is female; 51% of the professionals interviewed work in other places besides the hospital; 83% are considered to be satisfied and only 17% are considered to be unsatisfied with the work accomplished in the hospital. Regarding to the occupational risk, some specific aspects were mentioned as the following categorization: risks of physical nature, chemistry, organic, mechanic, physiologic and psychic. Regarding to the content analysis, the following categories emerged: love to the profession; convenience and professional growth; reflection and critic. Based on the direct observation it was verified that it is common the noncompliance of the relative universal norms regarding to the use of protection equipments during the work. CONCLUSION: The organic occupational risks constituted the central nucleus of the representation of the workers in the hospital. It was observed that physiologic, mechanics and chemical risks are considered as periphery elements of that representation. In that perspective, it was suggested that some subjective aspects related to the organizational culture, in terms of control and elimination of the environmental risks, administration, process, organization and difficulties of the.