Job insecurity among nurses, nursing technicians and nursing aides in public hospitals

Abstract

Objective: To identify the contribution of all the dimensions involved in job insecurity among nursing professionals in Brazilian state public hospitals. Method: This was a quantitative descriptive study conducted between March 2015 and February 2016, with nurses, nursing technicians and nursing aides. The data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis. Results: The sample consisted of 265 nurses (n=161 with job security and n=104 outsourced) and 810 nursing technicians and nursing aides (n=597 with job security and n=213 outsourced). Among the nurses, “Working conditions” accounted for 46.8% of their job insecurity. Among nursing technicians and nursing aides “intensity of work due to work process organization” best explained the construct of job insecurity (51.2%). Conclusion: Job insecurity is expressed differently depending on the type of nursing professional. The difference in the distribution of the dimensions showed that job insecurity is related to the hierarchical position of each nursing professional in the technical division of nursing work and the role of each professional in the work process.

Psychological empowerment of health professionals

“…In the nurse's work process, in addition to the care role, the management aspect (16) stands out, which causes these professionals to be under pressure from other nurses, other health professionals, and even from leaders of the institutions, to mobilize and articulate the necessary resources for the provision of care (17) .…”

“…However, these resources are not always available considering the difficulties of replacement, purchasing materials, and hiring staff imposed on the Brazilian public services (17) , a fact that contributes even further to the distress of the nurses (17)(18) , who are unable to meet the requests of the teams, and even of the patients themselves.…”

Nursing Care Provided to People With Covid-19: Challenges in the Performance of the Cofen/Corens System

“…[23][24][25] The contingency in health services with regard to the insufficient number of nurses per shift creates an overload of physical and mental work, combined with the professional devaluation of nursing regarding the salary issue, proving to be significant and expressed by the feelings of indignation and injustice. 11,23 The devaluation attributed to the profession refers to the low wages expressed in comparison to the other professional categories in the health area and offered in Public Notices for hiring Nursing professionals. This fact in itself is considered a factor which characterizes the devaluation of nursing, imposing the need for a double workday onto workers and thereby motivating absenteeism due to health problems.…”

“…In the opposite direction, the pandemic macro-context circumscribes the invisibility of work processes, meaning that nursing professionals are confronted with a reality marked by the lack of working conditions, low wages, long hours, and experience suffering and death, among other problems. [11][12][13] Brazilian Nursing as a professional category is organized into three categories, namely: Nurses, Nursing Technicians and Nursing Assistants; the professional practice of these are standardized and supervised by the Federal Nursing Council (Cofen) and respective Regional Councils (Corens), also known as the Cofen/Corens system. 14 This system is responsible for ensuring the quality of the services provided, being in compliance with the Law 15 which defines the rights and duties of professionals, and above all to guarantee professional protection.…”

Nursing Comiittee to Coping with COVID-19 in Bahia

“…As it is a highly transmissible virus (6) , it is known that nursing workers, due to the care nature of their work, are vulnerable to contamination by SARS-CoV-2, especially if their working and security conditions are precarious (7) . It is necessary to remember that before the pandemic, nursing workers had already been facing precarious work, evidenced by the intensity and precarious work conditions, no guarantee of their rights and undersizing (7) , which, at this moment, becomes more serious.…”