For health care workers, immune management plays an important role in the protection against infectious diseases. This study investigated the seroprevalence of measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella-zoster in newly employed female nurses.
We conducted a survey on the seroprevalence of measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella-zoster in newly employed female nurses at a university hospital from 2011 to 2019, before the nurses were given their department placements and duty start. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent and chemiluminescence immunoassays were used to detect immunoglobulin G antibodies. We analyzed whether there was a significant difference in seroprevalence depending on the age, birth year, birth season, and region of residence (metropolitan residency: yes or no).
The arithmetic mean ages of the participants were 28.6 ± 4.8, 23.5 ± 3.2, 23.6 ± 3.0, and 26.1 ± 4.5 years for measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella-zoster, respectively. The seropositivity rates were 93.9% (551/587), 60.2% (50/83), 83.3% (3,093/3,711), and 89.5% (978/1,093) for measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella-zoster, respectively. Significant differences in the seroprevalence when assessed according to the age and birth year were noted with measles, while significant differences in the seroprevalence were only noted with rubella and varicella-zoster when assessed according to birth year and age, respectively.
In this study, we identified the levels of antibody prevalence in new female nurses. Considering the seropositivity levels, cost-effectiveness, and convenience for the participants, we recommend that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccination be provided without serologic testing for all new female nurses and the varicella-zoster vaccination only be performed for persons who are negative after serologic testing. And it would be useful if the vaccinations were combined with compulsory worker health examinations, such as the pre-placement health examinations.
Citations
Tuberculosis (TB) infection is a common occupational risk for health workers (HWs) and poses a threat to the patients under their care and to other HWs. Hence, the development of a prevention strategy is crucial. We conducted a study to understand the status and risk factors of TB infection among HWs. The existing literature was searched for all published reports from 1 August 2010 to 31 December 2018, related to TB among HWs according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. The inclusion criteria were: (1) study participants working in a health care facility; (2) TB cases diagnosed by medical professionals; (3) original research articles; and (4) English reports in a peer-reviewed journal. We finally included 61 studies from 642 articles searched initially. The TB infection rate in HWs was higher than that of the general population. Based on 39 studies, the prevalence of TB in HWs (tuberculin skin test positive) was 29.94%. In contrast, the global burden of latent TB infection was 23.0% (95% uncertainty interval: 20.4%–26.4%) in 2014. The risk factors of TB among HWs were aging, long duration of employment, nursing professionals, lack of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccination, and low body mass index. HWs have an increased risk for TB infection, which can cause secondary infections in patients or other HWs. An effective prevention strategy must be developed to enable early diagnosis and prompt treatment.
Citations
Workplace violence is the intentional use of power, threatened or actual, against another person or against a group, in work-related circumstances, that either results in or has a high degree of likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, mal development, or deprivation. The aim of this study is to assess magnitude and predictors of workplace violence among healthcare workers in health facilities of Gondar city.
Institutional based cross sectional study design was employed to conduct this study. The study conducted in Gondar town from February 21 to march 21, 2016. Five hundred fifty three health care workers selected from health facilities of Gondar City administration. A stratified sampling technique was used for selecting the study subjects through simple random sampling. Data was collected by structured self administered questionnaire which is adapted from ILO/ICN/WHO/PSI after it is pretested & prepared in Amharic. The data was coded and entered in to EPI info version 7 and exported to SPSS version 20 software for analysis. The degree of association for variables was assessed using odds ratios with 95% confidence interval and
The prevalence of workplace violence was found to be 58.2% with [95% confidence interval (CI): (53.7, 62.3)] in which verbal abuse 282(53.1%) followed by physical attack 117(22.0%) and 38(7.2%) sexual harassment. Working at emergency departments [AOR = 3.99,95% CI:(1.49,10.73)], working at shifts [AOR = 1.98,95%, CI: (1.28,3.03)],short experiences [AOR = 3.09,95% CI: (1.20,7.98)], being nurse or midwife [AOR = 4.06, 95% CI: (1.20,13.74)] were positively associated with workplace violence. The main sources of violence are visitors/patient relatives followed by colleagues and patients.
workplace violence is major public health problem across health facilities and the Ministry of Health should incorporate interventions in its different health sector development & management safety initiative.
Citations
Going to work despite feeling sick also known as sickness presenteeism is one of the emerging global occupational health challenges. Sickness presenteeism negatively affects both health of work forces and productivity of organizations in general. However, there is insufficient research exploring this situation in majority of the Sub-Saharan African countries, including Ethiopia. Thus this study intended to investigate the prevalence and determinant factors of sickness presenteeism among health care workers, Western Ethiopia.
This study used an institution based cross-sectional quantitative study design. The study period was from February to March, 2017. We employed simple random sampling method to select 360 study samples. Data collection was performed by pre-tested structured and self- administered questionnaire. We used SPSS version 20 to carry out binary logistic regression analysis. Odds ratio with 95% confidence intervals was calculated and significance of associations was determined at
A total of 344 respondents fully completed the survey questionnaire. Mean age with standard deviation was 30.28 ± 6.181. Prevalence of sickness Presenteeism was 52.6% [95%CI: (47.4, 57.8)] in the past 12 months. Educational status [AOR:2.1, 95%CI: (1.17,3.90)], financial problem [AOR:1.9,95%CI:(1.07,3.46)], sickness absenteeism [AOR:2.7,95% CI:(1.50,5.02)], lack of staff replacement [AOR:2.7,95%CI:(1.50,5.02)], absence of occupational health services [AOR:3.0,95%CI:(1.34,6.70)], and pressure from supervisor [AOR:1.8,95% CI:(1.01,3.31)] were significant predictors of the dependent variable.
Relatively higher proportions of workers indicated sickness presenteeism as compared to other studies. Risk factors like educational status, personal financial problem, sickness absenteeism, lack of staff replacement, absence of occupational health services, and pressure from supervisors considerably increased the likely occurrence of employees’ sick attendance. It is advisable for health care managers to hire adequate health care staffs, to implement basic occupational health services and to design strategies which reduce pressure from supervisors.
Citations
We developed an evidence-based practice guideline to support occupational safety and health (OSH) professionals in assessing the risk due to lifting and in selecting effective preventive measures for low back pain (LBP) in the Netherlands. The guideline was developed at the request of the Dutch government by a project team of experts and OSH professionals in lifting and work-related LBP. The recommendations for risk assessment were based on the quality of instruments to assess the risk on LBP due to lifting. Recommendations for interventions were based on a systematic review of the effects of worker- and work directed interventions to reduce back load due to lifting. The quality of the evidence was rated as strong (A), moderate (B), limited (C) or based on consensus (D). Finally, eight experts and twenty-four OSH professionals commented on and evaluated the content and the feasibility of the preliminary guideline. For risk assessment we recommend loads heavier than 25 kg always to be considered a risk for LBP while loads less than 3 kg do not pose a risk. For loads between 3–25 kg, risk assessment shall be performed using the Manual handling Assessment Charts (MAC)-Tool or National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) lifting equation. Effective work oriented interventions are patient lifting devices (Level A) and lifting devices for goods (Level C), optimizing working height (Level A) and reducing load mass (Level C). Ineffective work oriented preventive measures are regulations to ban lifting without proper alternatives (Level D). We do not recommend worker-oriented interventions but consider personal lift assist devices as promising (Level C). Ineffective worker-oriented preventive measures are training in lifting technique (Level A), use of back-belts (Level A) and pre-employment medical examinations (Level A). This multidisciplinary evidence-based practice guideline gives clear criteria whether an employee is at risk for LBP while lifting and provides an easy-reference for (in)effective risk reduction measures based on scientific evidence, experience, and consensus among OSH experts and practitioners.
Citations
Citations
Citations
Citations
Citations
Citations
Citations
Citations
Citations