[Health status of nursing workers in functional retraining and readaptation]

Cross-sectional descriptive study aimed to assess the health status of nursing staff retrained due to illness of a public university hospital in northern Paraná, Brazil. Data of 34 workers were collected through the application of the Medical Outcomes Studies 36 items - Short Form (MOS SF-36). The results showed that physical problems were the reason for retraining in 91.2 % of cases. Of the eight domains assessed by the MOS SF -36, the worst scores referred to bodily pain, vitality and general health and the best scores were attributed to aspects of the mental health component. Workers retrained due to physical reason had lower scores in all domains except emotional performance in relation to those with mental problem. The evaluation of the perceived health of these workers showed that retraining due to illness is a strategy developed to enhance the functional capacity of workers, despite their limitations.