STUDY OF THE CORRELATION BETWEEN WORKING HOURS AND SELF-MEDICATION PRACTICED BY NURSES

Abstract

The professional practice of nurses is strongly associated with long working hours, and this negatively influences their physical, mental, and psychological well-being, therefore, some resort to self-medication as an alternative to relieve symptoms. This work is an integrative literature review of articles published between 2013 and 2023. The search was conducted using the PICo strategy and Boolean operators, using the Pubmed, Lilacs, Scielo, and Virtual Health Library databases. A total of 276 articles were found, of which 12 original articles were included according to eligibility level. The exclusion criteria were incomplete articles, those that had another variable besides self-medication, reviews, case reports, duplicates, and articles that did not cover the subject. Among nurses, a strong association was observed between self-medication and long working hours, as the practice alleviates numerous stressors, mainly fatigue, sleep, and pain. Additionally, this behavior is directly linked to the availability of drugs and self-confidence due to knowledge of the drugs and their effects. It was identified that women were more likely to use the medication, mainly due to their double workload, both professional and domestic. The work of a nurse requires attention and dexterity, which are impaired by poor-quality sleep and exhausting workloads. Thus, self-medication provides immediate relief to the professional, but with the risk of masking more serious health problems. Therefore, there is a clear need for a minimum wage with adequate workload, awareness campaigns regarding long working hours, and programs that facilitate medical consultations to optimize the care and health of workers.