Working Conditions of Health Personnel in Primary Care Centers from the Perspective of Decent Work

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The Conditions and Environment of Work (C&EW) have been recognized as a determinant of health-disease process in health workers and when these are inadequate, adversely affect the health of workers and quality of care provided. OBJECTIVE: To characterize the C&EW of primary health care centers and to analyze a) working time and b) job stability and security from the perspective of decent work. METHODS: An exploratory cross-sectional study was designed, with an already validated survey. There was a cluster sampling stratified by health area, with 188 workers belonging to primary care centers of Córdoba and selected at random. RESULTS: In general, employment conditions are appropriate: 77% of the respondents are part of the permanent staff and have stability and social protection, while the rest receives lower pay and lacks stability, which leads to inequities among staff. 28% of the workers have more than one job and 38% work more than 48 hours per week, exceeding the limit of “decent working time”. CONCLUSIONS: The adequate knowledge of C&EW is essential for a policy that assumes primary care strategy as the basis for its health system. The findings of this study are useful to design programs improving C&EW in primary care..