[Study of absenteeism in hospital workers].

The sick leaves from hospital workers involved in health care or in administrative positions at a hospital center in Santiago were analyzed. Absenteeism was 3.59% for health personnel and 2.25% for administrative staff. Absenteeism was higher in females, 5.1 and 2.7% respectively, compared to figures below 2% for males. Work accidents and professional diseases cause 0.5% absenteeism. Prevalence of absent workers amounted to 11% in females and 7% in males (15.8% and 8.4% among health workers, 6.5% among administrative staff). The mean duration of sick leaves was 7.3 days, 2 days higher in females compared to males. Diagnosis underlying the sick leaves were not different between health workers and administrative staff.