Liana Viana Ribeiro

Riscos ocupacionais e agravos à saúde dos trabalhadores em uma unidade ambulatorial especializada

This qualitative, descriptive, exploratory study investigated the occupational hazards that exist in the workplace of health professionals who work at a specialized outpatient unit and the impact of these occupational hazards on the workers’ health-disease process. Objectives: to identify the occupational hazards that exist in a specialized outpatient unit, according to the perception of the health professionals who work there, and to analyze the impacts of occupational hazards on these workers’ health-disease process. Data were collected from January through February 2011 through a semi-structured interview with 38 health professionals. The data were analyzed through thematic content analysis. The results showed that each professional category, due to the specificities of its work process, emphasized a certain type of risk. However, these professionals recognize that there are risks of different natures in their work environment, such as physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic, the risk of accident and, in particular, psychosocial risks.