Objective: To identify the contribution of all the dimensions involved in job insecurity among nursing professionals in Brazilian state public hospitals. Method: This was a quantitative descriptive study conducted between March 2015 and February 2016, with nurses, nursing technicians and nursing aides. The data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis. Results: The sample consisted of 265 nurses (n=161 with job security and n=104 outsourced) and 810 nursing technicians and nursing aides (n=597 with job security and n=213 outsourced). Among the nurses, “Working conditions” accounted for 46.8% of their job insecurity. Among nursing technicians and nursing aides “intensity of work due to work process organization” best explained the construct of job insecurity (51.2%). Conclusion: Job insecurity is expressed differently depending on the type of nursing professional. The difference in the distribution of the dimensions showed that job insecurity is related to the hierarchical position of each nursing professional in the technical division of nursing work and the role of each professional in the work process.

The errors made by nursing staff workers demonstrate that error-producing conditions are present in the context of their occurrence in all actions, and understaffing and intensity of work are the most recurrent circumstances.