Notifications of work-related injuries and diseases: an observational study on a mining disaster.

INTRODUCTION: Accidents at work are events that endanger the health and life of workers. They are considered a public health problem, being the object of studies and actions in the Brazilian health system. The collapsed of the ore tailings dam in the municipality of Brumadinho, Brazil, in January 2019, shocked the world due to the proportion of environmental and human damage caused. In this context, concern for the health of workers gained prominence. This paper evaluated the impact of the collapse of the mining tailings dam in Brumadinho, on notifications of occupational health problems before and after the disaster. METHODS: An observational, longitudinal and retrospective study, of the time series type with a statistical approach was carried out on notifications of work-related injuries and diseases, available in the local database of the Notifiable Diseases Information System between January 2017 and December 2021. RESULTS: During the study period, 520 notifications of work-related injuries and conditions were registered. Of this total, 67.3% were serious work accidents, 26.0% mental disorders, 12.3% accidents with biological material and 2.9% repetitive strain injuries/musculoskeletal disorders, occupational dermatoses and induced hearing loss by noise. Occurrences were more frequent in 2019, the year in which the mining disaster occurred, recording 65.2% of total notifications. Regarding the volume of notifications after the disaster, there was a statistically significant reduction (p < 0.001) for accidents with biological material; significant increase for severe work accident and mental disorder. The average time between the occurrence of the injury and the notification showed a statistically significant reduction for accidents involving biological material (p = 0.001) and a significant increase for serious accidents at work (p = 0.016). CONCLUSIONS: It was demonstrated that there were changes in the number of notifications when comparing the period before and after the mining disaster, with a consequent impact on the health of workers, which may persist over the years.

Physicians' working time restriction and its impact on patient safety: an integrative review.

BACKGROUND: Although shift work is a part of the physicians' routine, there is controversy on the length of shifts and adequate rest for safe professional practice. If on the one hand long working hours might have negative impact on patient safety by interfering with the psychological and physical functioning of physicians, on the other shorter working hours might impair the safety of patients due to interference with the continuity of care. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the impact of restrictions to physicians' working hours on patient safety. METHOD: Integrative literature review in which we surveyed studies on restriction to physicians' working time and patient safety included in databases National Library of Medicine (PubMed) and Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) until May 2018. Thirty-five studies which met the inclusion criteria were included. RESULTS: Patient safety outcomes analyzed in the included studies were mortality, adverse events, continuity of care, in-hospital complications, readmission rate and length of stay at hospital. Restriction to working time was associated with variable impact on patient safety indicators, but often did not modify their performance. CONCLUSION: Restrictions to physicians' working time did not always improved patient safety indicators. Focusing on interventions which only seek to limit the workload of physicians might be insufficient to bring consistent improvement to patient care.

INTRODUÇÃO: Apesar da jornada de trabalho em regime de plantão ser marco da rotina do profissional médico, há controvérsias em relação à duração dos turnos, bem como aos intervalos de repouso apropriados que tornam a atividade desse profissional segura. Se, por um lado, jornadas longas de trabalho podem gerar impacto negativo à assistência segura do paciente por alterar o funcionamento psicológico e físico do profissional, por outro, a redução do tempo de jornada de trabalho pode prejudicar a segurança do paciente por reduzir a continuidade do cuidado. OBJETIVO: Avaliar o impacto da restrição da jornada de trabalho médico na segurança do paciente. MÉTODO: Estudo do tipo revisão integrativa da literatura. Foi realizado um levantamento das publicações relacionadas a restrições na jornada de trabalho do médico e à segurança do paciente disponíveis nas bases de dados National Library of Medicine (PubMed) e Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) até maio de 2018. Foram selecionados 35 artigos que atenderam aos critérios de inclusão. RESULTADOS: Os desfechos relacionados à segurança do paciente avaliados pelos estudos foram mortalidade, eventos adversos, continuidade do cuidado, complicações intra-hospitalares, taxa de readmissões e duração da internação. A restrição à jornada de trabalho gerou impacto variável quanto aos indicadores de segurança do paciente entre os estudos. No entanto, frequentemente não modificaram sua performance. CONCLUSÃO: As restrições à jornada de trabalho frequentemente não resultam em melhora da performance dos indicadores de segurança do paciente. O foco em intervenções com propósito único de limitar a carga de trabalho médico é insuficiente para gerar melhoras consistentes ao cuidado do paciente.