Relação entre os níveis de hidrocortisona e o estresse em profissionais de saúde: uma revisão integrativa.

Abstract

Working conditions in the healthcare provider environment can cause stress among those working in this area, especially because these individuals deal with the care and suffering of others. Thus, in addition to the development of disorders in the health of professionals, there may be a prejudice to their performance. Cortisol is considered an important marker of stress in human beings. Thus, this study aims to perform an integrative review of the scientific literature, seeking to assess the presence of physiological stress in health professionals, observing, mainly, their levels of hydrocortisone, and assess whether there are consequences to their health. The research was performed in the databases EBSCOhost, SCIELO, MEDLINE and National Library of Medicine research service in the PubMed databases, with ten years of publication until 2019. Articles in Portuguese, English and Spanish with thematic were included. related to hydrocortisone, physiological stress and health professional. As a result, we had a final sample of eleven articles. In the data analysis, the following categorization was performed: hydrocortisone, physiological stress and health professional; physiological stress, hydrocortisone and immune system; physiological stress in intensive care, physiological stress and emergency work, cortisol and burnout syndrome, physiological stress and shift work and physiological stress and the resources to cope with it. In conclusion, it is clear that this theme, besides being recent, is approached in different countries, showing a high prevalence of the problem globally. In addition, it is clear that there is a variation between the study results in relation to cortisol levels in these professionals, which may be a consequence of different measurement schemes. Regarding the consequences of stress on the health of these individuals, in general, we observed the presence of musculoskeletal and gastrointestinal symptoms, as well as headache, physical exhaustion and chronic tiredness as predominant complaints in a significant number of subjects evaluated. Finally, the literature states that, for the prevention and reduction of stress, the joint action of the professional and the institution for which he works is important.