Scientific evidence of dockworker illness to nursing clinical reasoning

Objective: To identify scientific evidence of occupational illness of dockworkers published in the literature. Method: systematic review of the literature, developed according to the Cochrane method. The databases searched were: Cochrane, LILACS, MEDLINE/PubMed, CINAHL and SciELO. Studies from 1988 to 2014 were selected. The data were analyzed according to the level of evidence and Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology. Results: We included 14 studies, in which 11 (78.6%) were from international journals. The year of 2012 showed greater number of studies. All studies were classified as: Level of Evidence 4, highlighting lung cancer, musculoskeletal and ischemic diseases, causal link in chemical risks. Conclusion: The development of preventive measures should especially include chemical exposure of workers applying the clinical reasoning of nurses' environmental knowledge to care for illnesses.