Aim. The aim of the study was to identify the psychosocial risks (PRs) in health professionals. We also assessed the stressfulness of identified PRs and determined the relationship between PRs and self-assessed health, work ability and job engagement. Material and methods. The study was conducted in a nationwide group of physicians and nurses (N = 329).We used the Psychosocial Risk Scale that allows to identify three categories of non-specific general stressors (work content, work context, pathologies in relationships) and branch specific PRs – here related to the healthcare industry. Results. The most frequently indicated PRs were: responsibility for others’ health and lives, a lot of mental effort and helping others, whereas the most frequent PRs causing stress were: extreme and unpredictable human reactions, the emotional charge and readiness to respond quickly. More than one third of respondents experienced bullying. Correlation analysis showed that the particular categories of PRs, even if they were not stressful, but present at the workplace, negatively influenced health. Branch-specific PRs’ stressfulness was significantly associated with self-assessed health, work ability and job engagement. Conclusions. The results indicate that the occurrence of PRs in the work environment of health professionals, even if they were not stressful for them, significantly correlated with health and occupational functioning. Moreover, the results emphasize the importance of identifying PRs that are specific to the branch in which workers are employed.

Key words: psychosocial risks, occupational stress, health professionals, medical staff.