Absenteeism due to mental disorders in health professionals at a hospital in southern Brazil.

Objective To describe the health profile of mental and behavioral disorders in health professionals at a teaching hospital in southern Brazil. Methods This was a quantitative, retrospective cross-sectional epidemiological study whose data were collected through institutional documents used to feed the Health Monitoring System for Nursing Professionals and involved all absenteeism occurred in 2011. Results We found 55 records of absenteeism due to mental and behavioral disorders, a total of 317 days absent. Nursing technicians were the most absentee, with 29.09% of the records. The intensive care unit represented the sector with the highest number of days absent, 81%, and depressive episodes were the most frequent, representing 52.72% of mental disorders. Conclusion The results showed that mental disorders in health professionals are a cause for concern and urgently need intervention.