Stress among nurses: an examination of salivary cortisol levels on work and day off

The present study evaluates the use of salivary cortisol concentration as a physiological index of the stress level among nurses on their work day and day off and correlates it with the questionnaire used to measure occupational stress in nurses (Inventário de Estresse em Enfermeiros - IEE). This is a comparative, cross-sectional descriptive study in which sociodemographic data, IEE results and salivary cortisol levels were used. Fifty-seven nurses participated in the study (80.7% females and a mean age of 37.1 years old). The IEE average score was 124.5. The average cortisol level was 564.1 ng/m on work day and 354.1 ng/mL on day off. Nurses who had double workdays presented high values of salivary cortisol during the work day (638.1 ng/mL). In conclusion, salivary cortisol identified the nurses’ stress level, and differences were found between a work day and day off. On the nurses’ day off, their salivary cortisol levels and stress scores were lower.

Adaptação transcultural e validação do World Health Organization Health and Work Performance Questionnaire para enfermeiros brasileiros

Estudo com objetivo de adaptar transculturalmente o instrumento Health and Work Performance Questionnaire (HPQ ) e avaliar as propriedades psicométricas da versão brasileira para enfermeiros. O processo de adaptação seguiu o Protocolo de Tradução da Organização Mundial da Saúde. Os dados para a avaliação das propriedades psicométricas foram coletados em um hospital público e de ensino de Ribeirão Preto em 2011. As propriedades psicométricas analisadas foram: validade de face e conteúdo (grupo de especialistas), confiabilidade pelo Alfa de Cronbach e estabilidade por teste-reteste. Na avaliação das propriedades psicométricas, a consistência interna da versão adaptada do HPQ, o alfa de cronbach foi de 0,94 para a seção A e 0,86 para a seção B do instrumento. Na análise das concordâncias da estabilidade teste-reteste, as concordâncias foram positivas e estatisticamente significativas. Dessa forma, a versão adaptada do HPQ mostrou-se válida e confiável na amostra estudada.

Study of adaptation and validation of the Practice environment scale of the nursing work index for the portuguese reality

Objective: Testing the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index. Method: A descriptive, analytical and cross-sectional study, for the cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the psychometric properties of the scale. The study participants were 236 nurses from two hospitals in the regions of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo. Results: The 0.92 Cronbach’s alpha was obtained for overall reliability and support of a five-dimension structure. Conclusion: The excellent quality of adjustment of analysis confirms the validity of the adapted version to hospital care settings, although there was no total coincidence of items in the five dimensions


The work environment and leadership in nursing: an integrative review

Objective: To investigate the relationship between the work environment and leadership in nursing. Method: An integrative review of literature which was based on data from LILACS, PubMed, CINAHL and the SciELO portal for journals covering the period from January to April 2013. The inclusion criteria were: the indexing of research covering leadership exercised by nurses over a team and whether the research was available in English, Spanish or Portuguese. Results: The sample consisted of 12 articles that met the criteria. Conclusion: The results showed that leadership had an impact on the work environment. However, no studies were found that showed the influence of the working environment on leadership in nursing.

Higher education in nursing: the faculty work process in different institutional contexts

Objective To analyze the characteristics of faculty work in nursing higher education. Method An exploratory qualitative study with a theoretical-methodological framework of dialectical and historical materialism. The faculty work process was adopted as the analytical category, grounded on conceptions of work and professionalism. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 faculty members from three higher education institutions in the city of São Paulo, classified according to the typology of institutional contexts. Results The faculty members at these higher education institutions are a heterogeneous group, under different working conditions. Intensification and precarious conditions of the faculty work is common to all three contexts, although there are important distinctions in the practices related to teaching, research and extension. Conclusion Faculty professionalization can be the starting point for analyzing and coping with such a distinct reality of faculty work and practice.


Violence, Burnout and Minor Psychiatric Disorders in Hospital Work

OBJECTIVE Identifying the violence suffered by the health team workers and their association with Burnout and minor psychiatric disorders. METHODS Cross-sectional study with 269 health team professionals of a public hospital in southern Brazil. Data were collected through the use of the Survey Questionnaire: Workplace Violence in the Health Sector, Maslach Inventory Burnout and Self-Report Questionnaire. RESULTS Workplace violence struck 63.2% of workers, prevailing mostly in women (p = 0.001), among nursing auxiliaries/technicians (p=0.014) and was associated with minor psychiatric disorders (p<0.05), as exposure to different forms of violence increased the chances of these disorders by 60% (CI 95%: 1.2-2.1). The three Burnout dimensions were also associated to violence at work (p<0.05). CONCLUSION Health workers experience violence in the workplace and this exposure is associated with Burnout symptoms and minor psychiatric disorders.

Pleasure-suffering indicators of nursing work in a hemodialysis nursing service

OBJECTIVE To measure the pleasure and suffering indicators at work and relate them to the socio-demographic and employment characteristics of the nursing staff in a hemodialysis center in southern Brazil. METHOD Quantitative research, with 46 workers. We used a self-completed form with demographic and labor data and the Pleasure and Suffering Indicators at Work Scale (PSIWS). We conducted a bivariate and correlation descriptive analysis with significance levels of 5% using the Epi-Info® and PredictiveAnalytics Software programs. RESULTS Freedom of Speech was considered critical; other factors were evaluated as satisfactory. The results revealed a possible association between sociodemographic characteristics and work, and pleasure and suffering indicators. There was a correlation between the factors evaluated. CONCLUSION Despite the satisfactory evaluation, suffering is present in the studied context, expressed mainly by a lack of Freedom of Speech, with the need for interventions to prevent injury to the health of workers.

Offshore work and the work of nurses on board: an integrative review

OBJECTIVETo know the production of theoretical approaches on issues related to offshore work and the work of offshore nurses.METHODIntegrative literature review conducted in the databases of LILACS, BDENF, MEDLINE, SciELO and Index PSI.RESULTSWe selected 33 studies published in national and international journals between 1997 and 2014. The thematic analysis corpus resulted in four central themes: offshore work environment; amid work adversities, an escape; structuring of offshore health and safety services; in search of safe practices.CONCLUSIONThis study contributes to the offshore work of nurses in relation to the nature of work, acting amid adversities and the restless search for safe practices in the open sea.

One pot obtention of a tetrabutylammonium hydroxide solution for ironporphyrin-OH- interaction studies in organic solvents

In this work we report the obtention of a tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (TBAOH) solution in acetonitrile in a one pot process in order to study the interaction ironporphyrinOH- in non-aqueous systems. All the reactions were carried out under dry argon atmosphere to prevent the contamination of the solution with CO2, which leads to the formation of (TBA)2CO3.

Synthesis and characterization of manganese-glycine and copper-glycine adducts

This work reports the synthesis and characterization of adducts of general formula MCl2.ngly, where M= Mn and Cu; n= 2 and 4, and gly= glycine. The manganese adducts were synthesized by dissolution of both, manganese chloride and glycine in water, whereas the copper adducts were obtained by using an alternative solid state synthesis approach. For all adducts, the obtained infrared data shows that the coordination involves the amine nitrogen atom, as well as an oxygen atom of the COO- group. The TG curves for the synthesized adducts exhibit only one mass loss step associated with the release of glycine molecules.

Compostos organolantanídeos contendo o ligante pirazinamida: síntese, caracterização e atividade catalítica na polimerização do etileno

In this work we report the synthesis of some organolanthanide compounds which were identified as LnCl2Cp(PzA)2, Ln = Nd, Sm, Eu and Tb, Cp = cyclopentadienyl and PzA = pirazinamide, by elemental analyses, complexometric titration with EDTA, thermal analyses and IR spectra. Thermal analysis and infrared spectra indicated that the coordination of the pyrazinamide to the lanthanide ions was made by the O atom of the carbonyl group and by one or both N atoms of the pyrazinamide ring. This class of compound showed catalytic activity of ca. 4.0 to 6.4 kgPE molLn-1 h-1 bar-1, in ethylene polymerization, using methylaluminoxane as cocatalyst. The resulting polyethylene presented low crystallinity (20%).

The saccharinate anion: a versatile and fascinating ligand in coordination chemistry

The saccharinate anion, obtained by deprotonation of the N-H moiety of saccharin (o-sulfobenzimide) is a very versatile and polyfunctional ligand in coordination chemistry. In this review the different forms of metal-to-ligand interactions involving this anion and some other coordination peculiarities are briefly discussed on the basis of some selected examples.

Construção de campo de força empírico para estudo de complexos de Fe(III) com interesse bioinorgânico

In this work we present a new parametrization in molecular mechanics for studying iron complexes. This force field was implemented in the FORCES 2000 program, developed in our group for studying in coordination compounds of interest in bioinorganic chemistry. Mononuclear and dinuclear iron complexes were studied using this program with good success.

Síntese, caracterização e estudo das propriedades magnéticas de um polímero de coordenação contendo cobalto(II) e cobre(II)

This work describes the synthesis and characterization of two new compounds with ligand opy (N-(2-pyridyl)oxamate): the copper(II) precursor [Me4N]2[Cu(opy)2].5H2O and CoII CuII coordination polymer {[CoCu(opy)2]}n×4nH2O. This latter compound was obtained by reaction of [Me4N]2[Cu(opy)2].5H2O and CoCl2.6H2O in water. The heterobimetallic CoII CuII chain was characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetry and magnetic measurements. Magnetic characterization revealed typical behavior of one-dimensional (1D) ferrimagnetic chain as shown in the curves of temperature (T) dependence of magnetic susceptibility (χM), in the form of χMT versus T, and dependence of magnetization (M) with applied field (H).

Princípios fundamentais e modelos de transferência de energia inter e intramolecular

This work outlines the historic development of the concept and main theories of energy transfer, as well as the principal experiments carried out to confirm or refute the proposed theories. Energy transfer in coordination compounds is also discussed with a focus on rare earth systems.