Assessment of Occupational Risks of Health Personnel

Assessment of Occupational Risks of Health Personnel

Introduction and Purpose: Health workers are at occupational risk due to the work they do.The purpose of this study is;to investigate the occupational risks of family health workers working in Adana province. Materials-Methods: Our survey was applied to family health workers who worked in provinces and districts in Adana.461 people(86.1%)from 535 employees participated in our survey.16 participants(3.5%)were male and 445(96.5%)were female. The average age of the respondents was 38.6±7.1. Of the respondents,11(2.4%)said work affected their health were very positively,86(18.7%) were positively,94(20.4%)no changes,230(49.9%)were adversely,40(8.7%)were very adversely affected. 242 people(52.5%)had illnesses or complaints that they thought originated from work. Seven people(5.9%)were worried about job accidents,53(11.5%)were worried lowly,226(49.0%) were middlely and 155(33.6%)were highly. When asked about status of risk and sense of safety against the accident,151(32.8%) answered no,54(11.7%)were low,210(45.6%)were middle and 46(10%)high. 265 people(57.5%)were injured with cutting-piercing-sinking objects while working.During these injuries,165 people used personal protective equipment. 182 people answered yes(39.5%)and 279 people gave no(60.5%)when they were questioned about the status of exposure to blood and other body fluids during the study. There was no significant difference between men and women in terms of exposure(p = 0.493). When asked about exposure to violence at work,198 people(43%)answered yes, and 263 people(57%)gave no response.196 people(42.5%)were exposed to verbal attacks and 44 people(9.5%) were exposed to physical violence and ill-treatment.There was no significant relationship between gender and both physical and verbal exposure(p>0.05).When we assess the relationship between age and exposure to violence, young workers under 30 are more exposed to violence(p = 0.028).When we looked at the relationship between verbal aggression and age, verbal violence exposure was significantly higher in young people(p=0.045).There was no significant relationship between physical violence and age(p>0.05). Conclusion: All healthcare professionals are at occupational risk.Especially young employees are more sensitive to occupational risks and need to be careful when working.  Keywords: work accident, violence, health  

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  • Nazan Akçalı1, Ersin Nazlıcan2, Muhsin Akbaba2, Burak Kurt2, Tanju Altınsoy1, Alper Acil1 1Adana Public Health Directorate 2Çukurova University Faculty of Medicine Department of Public Health
The Turkish Journal Of Occupational / Environmental Medicine and Safety-Cover
  • ISSN: 2149-4711
  • Başlangıç: 2015
  • Yayıncı: Engin TUTKUN