Introduction:

Health and social security at work is related to the different conditions that affect each individual, being these the causal of manifesting intra and extra labor results, without forgetting the personal conditions of each individual.

Objective:

To analyze the relationship between work overload and "satisfaction" of the nursing staff in the afternoon shift in a public hospital in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Methods:

A descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out. The sample consisted of 97 nurses. The Job Content Questionnaire and the Font-Roja Questionnaire were used.

Results:

In relation to the sex of the population, the highest percentage of respondents was 73.2% female. The average age was 44.9 years. It was found that the lower the level of education, the higher the work stress experienced by the respondents. It was highlighted the fact that the greater the length of service the lower the satisfaction; however, the greater the length of service in the institution the higher the job satisfaction, both indicators were statistically significant.

Conclusions:

A moderate perception of job stressors is found in the group of professionals analyzed. The nursing staff showed a lower perception of psychological demands and control over their work than the nursing assistants. The contrasting correlation between work seniority supports the fact of the importance of work and socio-family conditions in relation to work stress.