Évaluation des risques professionnels liés au travail en douze heures à l’hôpital des enfants et à la maternité du CHU de Toulouse

Purpose of the study. The aim of the present study was to assess the risk of the 12-hour workday among health care workers of various medical staff at the University Hospital of Toulouse. Indeed, for more and more hospital health care workers, a 7-hour-42-minute workday has been supplanted by a 12-hour workday. During occupational risk assessment the physical and psychosocial effects of this change were taken into account. Methods. The study focused on all the Children and Maternity Hospital services that had opted for the 12-hour workday for one year at least (5 children hospital services and 6 maternity hospital services). Data were obtained from a questionnaire and an interview. Data were collected by the occupational health service from the health care workers who were present when occupational risks were assessed. This survey was conducted over two days. Respondents were asked to compare the 12-hour workday and the 7-hour 42-minute workday regarding perceived health effects, quality of life (personal and family life) and quality of work organization and of working life. Results. Fifty-eight health care workers answered the questionnaire, that is 14% of the 12-hour-day workers of the focused services. The average age of respondents is 34 years old. The average length of service is 4.7 years. The main health effects identified were an increased feeling of heavy legs (48%), increased fatigue (34%) and reduced alertness while driving (43%). Regarding the quality of life, the 12-hour workday seems to improve family and personal life (84%). Finally, 95% of the respondents think that the organization of the working day is facilitated with the 12-hour working range. Discussion/conclusion. This study suggests an increase in adverse health effects for some health care workers. However, an increase in the positive psychosocial effects also appears. Given the small sample size, these results cannot be extended to the entire population of health care workers. (C) 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.