Background: Palliative care is a challenging specialty, especially when it comes to caring for children with serious life-limiting conditions and supporting their families. Workers face significant challenges and experience major impacts on their wellbeing. We conducted a qualitative study to understand the sources of stress in the palliative care team, their work expectations, and how they can cope with the demands. Methods: We used an online questionnaire about the causes of stress, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ways in which support is needed in the workplace. Results: Of the 56 palliative care professionals who participated in the survey, 57.1% considered the main causes of stress to be high workload, difficult emotional burdens (55.4%) affecting their outlook on life (61.2%), the death of patients (46.4%), and communication with patients’ families (26.8%). The COVID-19 pandemic increased stress levels for the majority of respondents (89.3%). The need for specialised training (53.6%), support groups, psychological counselling and adapted organisational policies was highlighted. Conclusions: The study demonstrates the importance of understanding the needs of both paediatric and adult palliative care staff in order to provide optimal care and support their balance in this demanding area of the healthcare system.

Background: In children’s palliative care, the term “respite” refers to a temporary break offered to primary caregivers of a child with a life-limiting illness. The aim of this study was to assess the perceptions of parents who have benefited from respite care services in the Lumina Association, Bacău hospice unit and the benefits it can bring in improving their psycho-emotional state. Methods: The study consisted of quantitative research involving 34 parents/caregivers who responded to a questionnaire with 26 questions, and qualitative research which involved the organization of a focus group with 12 parents who benefited from respite services. Results: The use of respite services was associated with a significant reduction of psycho-emotional distress on the part of primary caregivers; 91% of respondents said that this type of service reduces the level of psycho-emotional stress. Conclusions: All participants in the study confirmed that the most important benefit of respite is the time gained to care for family and health. The development of respite services could reduce the risk of emotional exhaustion and mental health problems.

Background: Respiratory infections pose a significant public health challenge, particularly among healthcare workers (HCWs). The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated absenteeism due to respiratory illnesses, affecting healthcare workforce stability. Identifying factors influencing absenteeism is crucial for workforce resilience and effective care. Methods: This retrospective longitudinal study analyzed HCW absenteeism due to respiratory diseases from 2017 to 2023 at the “Sf. Maria” Children’s Emergency Hospital in Iași, Romania. Data from 3827 HCWs were examined, including demographic and occupational variables (age, gender, job role) and disease types. Statistical analyses (chi-square tests, ANOVA, and regression models) were conducted using SPSS to assess absenteeism trends and associated risk factors. Results: Sick leave peaked in 2020 (8322 days) and remained high in 2021 (8134 days), gradually decreasing in 2022–2023 but not returning to pre-pandemic levels (~5000 days/year). Nurses accounted for most leave days, while male staff and HCWs aged 41–50 were most affected. Seasonal variations showed higher absenteeism in transitional months and lower rates in summer. COVID-19 was the leading cause of absenteeism during the pandemic, with quarantine measures further increasing sick leave duration. Conclusions: Pediatric hospitals must strengthen infection control measures to protect HCWs and sustain care continuity. Preventive actions such as immunization, staff training, and health monitoring are critical in reducing absenteeism, maintaining a resilient workforce, and ensuring quality care during health crises.

Background: Healthcare workers face multiple, interlinked occupational health risks—burnout, post-COVID-19 sequelae (Long COVID), and extended medical leave. These outcomes often share predictors, contribute to each other, and, together, impact workforce capacity. Yet, existing tools typically address them in isolation. Objective: The objective of this study to develop and deploy an integrated, explainable artificial intelligence (AI) framework that predicts these three outcomes using the same structured occupational health dataset, enabling unified workforce risk monitoring. Methods: We analyzed data from 1244 Romanian healthcare professionals with 14 demographic, occupational, lifestyle, and comorbidity features. For each outcome, we trained a separate predictive model within a common framework: (1) a lightweight transformer neural network with hyperparameter optimization, (2) a transformer with multi-head attention, and (3) a stacked ensemble combining transformer, XGBoost, and logistic regression. The data were SMOTE-balanced and evaluated on held-out test sets using Accuracy, ROC-AUC, and F1-score, with 10,000-iteration bootstrap testing for statistical significance. Results: The stacked ensemble achieved the highest performance: ROC AUC = 0.70 (burnout), 0.93 (Long COVID), and 0.93 (extended leave). The F1 scores were >0.89 for Long COVID and extended leave, whereas the performance gains for burnout were comparatively modest, reflecting the multidimensional and heterogeneous nature of burnout as a binary construct. The gains over logistic regression were statistically significant (p < 0.0001 for Long COVID and extended leave; p = 0.0355 for burnout). The SHAP analysis identified overlapping top predictors—tenure, age, job role, cancer history, pulmonary disease, and obesity—supporting the value of a unified framework. Conclusions: We trained separate models for each occupational health risk but deployed them in a single, real-time web application. This integrated approach improves efficiency, enables multi-outcome workforce surveillance, and supports proactive interventions in healthcare settings.

Background and Objectives: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are a leading cause of absenteeism among healthcare workers (HCWs), impacting healthcare delivery. Pediatric HCWs face specific physical demands such as lifting and awkward postures. While absenteeism rose during the COVID-19 pandemic, its effects on pediatric MSD-related leave remain unclear. This study examined MSD-related absenteeism trends among pediatric HCWs in a Romanian hospital across the pre-pandemic (2017–2019), pandemic (2020–2021), and post-pandemic (2022–2023) periods. Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study using records from the hospital’s occupational health database. We included all HCWs who took MSD-related leave during 2017–2023. Diagnoses included arthropathies, dorsopathies, other osteoarticular/connective tissue disorders, and acute trauma or fractures. We used chi-square tests, ANOVA, and regression models to identify trends and predictors. Results: A total of 3388 cases were analyzed. Post-pandemic absenteeism increased significantly (40.1%), especially among women (86.8%), nurses (46.7%), and workers aged ≥46 (62.7%). A seasonal shift was observed, with spring peaks (March 9.7% and May 9.9%) replacing the pre-pandemic autumn peaks (October 11.9% and November 12.8%). The regression models identified age, occupation, and diagnosis type as significant predictors of leave duration. Conclusions: MSD-related absenteeism rose post-pandemic and showed altered seasonal patterns. Occupational and demographic predictors identified through a multivariate analysis highlight the need for anticipatory, evidence-based strategies to support pediatric HCWs, enhance workforce resilience, and sustain healthcare performance.

The healthcare system is an essential sector for the well-being of a society, and healthcare professionals are on the front lines of this noble mission. However, the constant stress and pressure they face can lead to burnout, a state of physical and emotional exhaustion that severely affects their ability to provide quality care. One of its most visible effects is an increase in sick leave, a phenomenon that can have both causes and consequences for the health system as a whole. Health workforce burnout and absenteeism are two interrelated problems that affect the health workforce and, by extension, the quality of care provided to patients. They have become increasingly visible in recent decades, particularly in the context of a health system under pressure, where resources are often insufficient to cope with daily demands and stress. An increasing number of health professionals are experiencing burnout, and absenteeism and increased sick leave reflect the seriousness of the situation. In order to prevent burnout and support healthcare workers, it is crucial that health authorities and institutions take appropriate measures, thereby also contributing to maintaining a well-functioning and efficient healthcare system.