WORKING CONDITIONS LICENSED NURSES IN URUGUAY. DESCRIPTIVE-COMPARAT IVE STUDY IN 1993/2013

Abstract

Human resources in health so far have remained overlooked in most reforms, so that the Pan American Health Organization launched an initiative for better policies for this sector. The Uruguayan reform of the health system management also implemented new tools to work on policies regarding this issue. In order to investigate the changes that occurred in the distribution, employment status and working conditions of the Nursing graduates in the last twenty years, we compared the 1993 and 2013 surveys, in a retrospective descriptive part-comparative study conducted in Montevideo, Uruguay. It was found that this profession remains largely a female choice, although there has been a slight increase in male workers. There was an increasing number of nursing graduates working in the rural areas and also an increase in the amount of them working in the public sector and holding more than one job. Uruguay has not yet reached the first goal of the Pan American Health Organization.
More current data is needed for a more accurate comparison, since the second part of the 2013 survey, which goes more in depth into working conditions, has not yet been released. It would be advisable to research about the reasons to work in more than one job and also the reasons to work in Montevideo in order to develop state policies that meet the needs and problems already identified.