THE IMPACT OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND WORK OVERLOAD ON NURSING PROFESSIONALS IN URGENT AND EMERGENCY CARE SETTINGS

Abstract

 Objective: To present the factors related to occupational stress among nursing professionals working in urgent and emergency care services and their impacts on worker health. Method: This is an integrative literature review conducted to collect, extract, and analyze scientific data published between 2021 and 2026, in Portuguese, English, and Spanish, available in full text via the PubMed/MEDLINE, SciELO, Dialnet, and Periódicos CAPES databases, utilizing controlled descriptors from the Descritores em Ciências da Saúde (DeCS) and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) vocabularies, as well as keywords related to the topic. Results: The urgent and emergency care services are associated with high stress levels, heavy workloads, and demands on nursing professionals to make rapid, effective, and assertive decisions. The combination of physical strain and the psychological pressure involved in managing critically ill patients increases vulnerability to physical, emotional, and psychosocial harm. Conclusion: The job satisfaction and sociodemographic factors influence the team's vulnerability to management issues, unstable routines, and safety protocol failures, conditions that foster excessive workloads and occupational stress, thereby compromising the physical and mental health of emergency nursing professionals.