This article reflects on the theoretical and practical foundations impacting and shaping the field of workers' health in

Tem-se como pressuposto que o processo de transformação do sofrimento em adoecimento, na gestão do trabalho, está relacionado não apenas com a produção e reprodução de discursos originários da medicina científica, mas também com um conjunto de práticas sustentadas, na atualidade, pela medicina ocupacional. Partindo da diferenciação conceitual entre sofrimento, dor e adoecimento, buscou-se na literatura e em entrevistas com trabalhadores e gestores elementos para demonstrar a existência deste processo. Constatou-se uma tentativa de silenciamento do sofrimento e uma cultura da promoção do adoecimento no espaço da empresa, envolvendo trabalhadores, profissionais da saúde e os gestores com a cumplicidade de famílias de trabalhadores identificados como pacientes. No entanto, alguns casos oferecem resistência ao processo, constituindo um verdadeiro movimento do contra-adoecimento. Conclui-se que, nesses dois séculos de "medicina científica", embora houvesse desejo de mudança, renovação das práticas e investimentos das mais diversas ordens, atos iatrogênicos e violências foram e são cometidos ainda em nome da ciência, da saúde e do bem-estar dos trabalhadores

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The article presents a method for the analysis of work-related accidents in hospitals, with the double aim of analyzing accidents in light of actual work activity and enhancing the vitality of the various professions that comprise hospital work. This process involves both research and intervention, combining knowledge output with training of health professionals, fostering expanded participation by workers in managing their daily work. The method consists of stimulating workers to recreate the situation in which a given accident occurred, shifting themselves to the position of observers of their own work. In the first stage of analysis, workers are asked to show the work analyst how the accident occurred; in the second stage, the work accident victim and analyst jointly record the described series of events in a diagram; in the third, the resulting record is re-discussed and further elaborated; in the fourth, the work accident victim and analyst evaluate and implement measures aimed to prevent the accident from recurring. The article concludes by discussing the method's possibilities and limitations in the hospital setting.

Participation in the workplace by people with epilepsy is conditioned by various interrelated issues concerning epilepsy itself, the epileptic individual, and society's implicit cultural codes. In order to analyze how such conflictive participation interferes decisively in the quality of life of people with epilepsy, a survey was conducted with 339 patients at the University Hospital of Universidade Federal Fluminense. Patients answered questionnaires including level of schooling, professional qualifications, employment situation, frequency, type, and duration of seizures, associated phenomena, and prejudice towards epilepsy. We observed that satisfactory management of seizures is decisive for their success at work. All patients with daily seizures and 9.3% of those with weekly seizures had never been employed. We conclude that any intervention in this context must include the implementation of multiprofessional and intersectorial therapeutic programs and legislation to protect epileptic patients' rights in a broad effort at demystification of epilepsy.