[Consequences of work environment on the ability judgment in a hospital company in Piemonte]

The aim of this study is to analyze whether the changes recently occurred in the Italian society and in the occupational context can influence the prevalence of job restrictions among health care workers (HCW) of the Cuneo Hospital, between 1998 and 2006. After subdivision in: nurses, physicians, auxiliary nurses, administrative staff, and technicians, sociodemographic data of HCW were collected. In 2006, the total amount (+176), number of part-time (+274), mean age (+2.6 ys) and seniority (+2.1 ys) of HCW--this latter not for physicians and technicians-- were significantly increased (p < 0.001) compared to 2000. The prevalence of job inability--obtained dividing all the new restrictions expressed for each year between 1998-2000, 2001-2003, and 2004-2006 by the number of HCW working at the end of each period--increased, respectively, from 12.1% to 12.7%, to 16.1% (chi2 = 18.6; p < 0.001). The higher percentage of inability was observed among physicians (+ 183%) and administrative staff (+7/1%). In each period, subjects with job restrictions resulted to be younger than the whole HCW (p < 0.001). In conclusion, the number of job restrictions is rising but it doesn't seem to be associated to the increase of age and seniority among HCW.