Exploratory Study on Occupational Health Hazards among Health Care Workers in the Philippines

Background: Occupational health hazard pertaining to health care providers is one of the neglected areas that need serious attention. Any compromise in their safety would result in reduction in workforce, which may affect patient care, keeping in mind the wide gap between the required number and actual health care workers (HCWs) available in the world over.Aim: This study was undertaken to evaluate the change in knowledge through a sensitization training program on occupational health hazards and vaccination for HCWs.Materials and Methods: Participants of the study included nursing and allied HCWs of a tertiary care health institute in Uttarakhand, India. Multiple training sessions, each of around 180 min, were held periodically in small groups with 20–40 participants over 2 years. Participants were assessed with pretest and posttest questionnaires, and feedback was taken. Questionnaires comprised three categories: general safety and ergonomics, biological hazards, and chemical and radiation hazards. Data of incident reporting for needlestick injury from 2017 to 2019 were retrieved. All data were compiled in Excel sheet and analyzed.Results: A total of 352 participants were included in the study. Mean ± SD for pretest and posttest scores were 5.3 ± 2.13 and 11.22 ± 2.15, respectively. There was considerable improvement in knowledge, which was found to be statistically significant with p-value of 0.001 for all categories. Participants in their feedback suggested for inclusion of psychosocial aspect in further training programs.Conclusion: Low baseline knowledge prior to attending the course highlights a need for an intervention through such structured sensitization program to create awareness and educate HCWs on common occupational health hazards and vaccination. Statistically significant improvement in posttest knowledge highlights effectiveness of the training program. A drastic rise in incident reporting for needlestick injury reflects fairly good impact of training program. Regular and appropriate form of training can reduce injuries resulting from occupational hazards and ensure healthy workforce contributing toward a positive impact on national economy.

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Occupational health hazards among health care workers in an obstetrics and gynaecology unit of a Nigerian teaching hospital

Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology ◽

10.1080/01443610120101781 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 75-78 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

E. O. Orji ◽

O. B. Fasubaa ◽

Uche Onwudiegwu ◽

F. O. Dare ◽

S. O. Ogunniyi

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Occupational Health ◽

Teaching Hospital ◽

Health Care Workers ◽

Health Hazards ◽

Obstetrics And Gynaecology ◽

Care Workers

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Prevalence and Risk Factors of Occupational Health Hazards among Health Care Workers of Northern Saudi Arabia: A Multicenter Study

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph182111489 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (21) ◽

pp. 11489

Author(s):

Ashokkumar Thirunavukkarasu ◽

Khaloud Amash Hossin Alrawaili ◽

Ahmad Homoud Al-Hazmi ◽

Umar Farooq Dar ◽

Bashayer ALruwaili ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Health Care ◽

Saudi Arabia ◽

Occupational Health ◽

Health Care Workers ◽

Smoking Status ◽

Health Care Facilities ◽

Health Hazards ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Care Workers

Health care workers (HCWs) working in different health care facilities are exposed to many hazards, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This questionnaire-based cross-sectional study aimed to assess the prevalence, pattern, and risk factors of occupational health hazards faced by 438 randomly selected HCWs from northern Saudi Arabia. The HCWs are commonly exposed to needle stick injuries (34.5%) under the biological hazards category; and work-related stress (69.6%) under the non-biological hazards categories. The significant associated factors were work setting (ref: Primary Health Center: Adjusted OR (AOR) = 2.81, 95%CI = 1.21–4.59, p = 0.017), smoking status (ref.: non-smoker: AOR = 1.73, 95%CI = 1.03–2.91, p = 0.039), and mean sleeping duration per day (AOR = 1.22, 95%CI = 1.04–1.43, p = 0.014) for biological, and smoking status (ref: non-smoker: AOR = 2.16, 95%CI = 1.09–3.29, p = 0.028), and mean sleeping duration per day (AOR = 1.35, 95%CI = 1.07–1.70, p = 0.013) for non-biological categories. This study revealed several risk factors and occupational health hazards that HCWs are exposed to during their work time. Periodic training and follow-up assessments regarding bio-safety measures for the HCWs should be implemented. Finally, future explorative studies are warranted on the feasibility of implementing rotation-based postings for the HCWs in different health care settings.

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Knowledge and Compliance with Standard Precautions amongst Healthcare Workers in Selected Hospitals in Rivers State, Nigeria

Asian Journal of Medicine and Health ◽

10.9734/ajmah/2020/v18i230181 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 11-22 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

P. N. Ogbonda ◽

K. Douglas ◽

B. M. Moore

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Occupational Health ◽

Health Care Workers ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Health Hazards ◽

Years Of Experience ◽

Standard Precautions ◽

Safety Practices ◽

Care Workers ◽

And Gender

Background: Standard precautions (SPs) in the hospital are very important in the reduction of health care workers’ exposure to occupational health hazards but most hospitals are used to reactive rather than proactive safety practices. The effect of reactive safety practices is overwhelming to health care workers, hospitals and the society. Thus, this study assessed health care workers’ knowledge and compliance with standard precautions. Materials and Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional design and proportionate stratified random sampling method was adopted and a sample size of 391was selected using Taro-Yamane formula. The study relied on a structured questionnaire to elicit information from respondents and a reliability of 0.87 was obtained. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used with the aid of statistical package for social science (SPSS) software version 21. Results: Healthcare workers’ (HCWs) have fair knowledge of SPs and poor compliance with SPs. Also, there is significant association between HCWs’ knowledge of SPs and gender, marital status, years of experience and job category in the hospitals (p < 0.05). Consequently, there is significant association between compliance with SPs and gender, years of experience and job categories in the hospitals (p < 0.05). Conclusion: There is great need for strong advocacy on knowledge of SPs and compliance with SPs in the hospitals to curb increasing occupational health hazards. The Nigeria government and hospital managements should develop an all-encompassing integrated SPs policies, strategies and procedures consistent with global best practices.

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Occupational Health Hazards among Health Care Workers

Public Health Open Access ◽

10.23880/phoa-16000120 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nazanin Izadi

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Occupational Health ◽

Health Care Workers ◽

Health Hazards ◽

Care Workers

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Progress on Occupational Health Research and Practice Among Health Care Workers

Workplace Health & Safety ◽

10.1177/2165079920933180 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 68 (7) ◽

pp. 308-309

Author(s):

Kathleen M. McPhaul ◽

Lisa A. Pompeii

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Occupational Health ◽

Health Care Workers ◽

Health Research ◽

Research And Practice ◽

Care Workers ◽

Occupational Health Research

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A COVID-19 Infection Risk Model for Frontline Health Care Workers

10.1101/2020.03.27.20045336 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Louie Florendo Dy ◽

Jomar Fajardo Rabajante

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Care Worker ◽

Health Care Workers ◽

Infection Risk ◽

The Philippines ◽

Interaction Time ◽

Work Shift ◽

Crowd Density ◽

Care Workers ◽

Care Worker

AbstractThe number of confirmed COVID-19 cases admitted in hospitals is continuously increasing in the Philippines. Frontline health care workers are faced with imminent risks of getting infected. In this study, we formulate a theoretical model to calculate the risk of being infected in health care facilities considering the following factors: the average number of encounters with a suspected COVID-19 patient per hour; interaction time for each encounter; work shift duration or exposure time; crowd density, which may depend on the amount of space available in a given location; and availability and effectiveness of protective gears and facilities provided for the frontline health care workers. Based on the simulation results, a set of risk assessment criteria is proposed to classify risks as ‘low’, ‘moderate’, or ‘high’. We recommend the following: (i) decrease the rate of patient encounter per frontline health care worker, e.g., maximum of three encounters per hour in a 12-hour work shift duration; (ii) decrease the interaction time between the frontline health care worker and the patients, e.g., less than 40 minutes for the whole day; (iii) increase the clean and safe space for social distancing, e.g., maximum of 10% crowd density, and if possible, implement compartmentalization of patients; and/or (iv) provide effective protective gears and facilities, e.g., 95% effective, that the frontline health care workers can use during their shift. Moreover, the formulated model can be used for other similar scenarios, such as identifying infection risk in public transportation, school classroom settings, offices, and mass gatherings.

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Is vaccination against hepatitis B a reality among Primary Health Care workers?

Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem ◽

10.1590/s0104-11692013000100005 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

pp. 316-324 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Fernanda Marques da Costa ◽

Andréa Maria Eleutério de Barros Lima Martins ◽

Pedro Eleutério dos Santos Neto ◽

Duran Nunes de Pinho Veloso ◽

Vilma Soares Magalhães ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Primary Health Care ◽

Hepatitis B ◽

Occupational Health ◽

Health Care Workers ◽

Professional Education ◽

Older Workers ◽

Primary Health ◽

Vaccination Scheme ◽

Care Workers

OBJECTIVE: To verify the prevalence and factors associated with vaccination against hepatitis B among Primary Health Care workers in Montes Claros/MG. METHOD: A cross-sectional, analytic study was undertaken. Data were collected through a form, which contained sociodemographic, occupational, general health and behavioral variables. Associations were investigated through bivariate analysis and Poisson's multivariate regression, using SPSS 17.0. RESULTS: 95.5% answered the question about vaccination; 47.5% did not complete the vaccination scheme. The prevalence of vaccinated professionals was lower among older workers, who were hired, did not participate in occupational health updates and consumed alcohol. Prevalence levels were higher among professionals with more years of education and who reported contact with piercing and cutting instruments . CONCLUSIONS: Professional education, knowledge and perception of infection risks are important determinants of the vaccination scheme. Instability at work may lead to negligence and negligent behaviors may repeat themselves. The characterization of professionals who did not get vaccinated will direct educative actions in occupational health.

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