[Sick leave and nursing personnel management].

Sick leaves in the nursing team demand immediate managerial actions when health care has quality as a goal. This descriptive-exploratory, quantitative study was performed with the purpose of characterizing that phenomenon in a university hospital between 2003 and 2007. The medical leaves added up to 3,207 leaves and 32,022 days lost. Leaves lasting up to two days accounted for 54% of the total leaves and to 7% of the days lost; leaves of more than 15 days, 5% of the total, and 66% of the lost days. Hence, sick leaves consist of an important tool in nursing personnel management.