Qualidade de vida, condições ergonômicas e presença de dor entre profissionais de um laboratório de saúde pública

Abstract

The working conditions offered to professionals in public health in many countries need adjustments and for this reason. The full health of public sector employees, especially those working in the clinical analysis laboratory, must be ensured. Objective: To evaluate the quality of life, the ergonomic conditions and presence of pain of the professionals of a Public Health Laboratory of regional reference of São José do Rio Preto, SP and propose interventions. Methodology: It is a descriptive analytical study in which a protocol to collect socio-demographic and clinical data was applied, through observation and making a record of the posture of each of 49 professionals during the performance of their duties. For the data collection, the Employee Assessment Worksheet (RULA), the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) to measure pain and the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) which investigates the quality of life were used. After the assessment, a four-hour course whose contents included information and guidelines regarding pain, posture, adaptation of the environment, and didactic material was prepared for the participants; they worked in small groups of up to 10 people. Results: Forty-nine professionals participated in the survey, representing 90.7% of the total. Alcohol intake (p-value = 0.71) and smoking (p-value = 0.31) did not interfere in the "general health condition" domain as assessed by SF-36. Physical health was self-reported as moderate, poor or very bad in the last month and in the last year, it had a negative influence on the general health condition (p-value <0.05). The professionals who presented a low quality of life in the "mental health" domain were those with the highest ergonomic risk assessed by the RULA (p-value <0.05). The VAS revealed that all had pain, to varying degrees, 27 (55.1%) reported mild pain, 21 (42.9%) moderate pain and 01 (2%) severe pain. Conclusion: This study revealed that at some point in the day all participants had some pain. However, it was concluded that most indicated good quality of life of the evaluated components. However, the components that evaluate the quality of life under the aspects of "pain" and "vitality" obtained means that indicate the need for intervention. It was also observed that self-reported physical health as moderate, poor or very bad in the last month and in the last year had a negative influence on the general health status of study participants. Moderate and intense pain negatively influences the participants' quality of life, whether in the "general health", in the "pain" aspects, in the "Vitality" and "mental health" evaluated by SF-36. It was developed an educational action with active methodology, also realized adjustment in the furniture. Thus, according to the literature, there is a proven relationship between static or low-movement postures, especially the pains and disorders that are triggered by inappropriate postures, abusive working hours and the repetition of the same pattern of movement. Each participant in this study is expected to learn and have appropriate postures.