Abstract
Objective: To describe the occupational stress levels of health professionals. Methods: This is an integrative review, which went through the six stages proposed by Mendes et al (2008), which are: establishment of a hypothesis; sampling; categorization of studies; evaluation of studies; interpretation of results and synthesis of knowledge. Data collection was performed in the Virtual Health Library (VHL), Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences (LILACS), Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (Medline) and Nursing Database (BDENF). Eight articles were selected: four from a qualitative approach, three from a quantitative approach and one from a systematic review, in Portuguese. Results: The main stressors are work overload; physical and emotional exhaustion; morning and night shift; low salary; patient's death; needs of family members of critically ill patients; interpersonal relationship; activities related to the operation of the unit; environmental conditions and nursing care. Conclusion: It is concluded that the average level of stress was the most found among nurses, linked to a series of causes that lead to serious health problems.