Common occupational health hazards amongst Health care workers in a Tertiary Health Institution in Bida, North-central Nigeria

[摘要] Background: Health care workers are continually exposed to occupational health hazards. The study aimed to assess the prevalence of some occupational health hazards and their reporting behavior .Methods: A hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted in August 2014 among health care workers in Bida, Northcentral Nigeria. A total of 200 health care workers from all the departments were included using the multi-staged random sampling technique. Relevant quantitative and qualitative data were collected using semi-structured self-administered questionnaire. The participants were divided into clinical health care workers and non-clinical health care workers. The frequency distribution of the variables were calculated and presented in the form of frequency tables and figures.Results: The overall prevalence of occupational health hazard was 56.8% (n = 108). The most common occupational health hazard among clinical health care workers were needle stick injury (40.7%) and infections with hepatitis B and C viruses (13.9%) and among the non-clinical health care workers were stress (32.8%) and back pain (10.3%). Majority of the health care workers who had occupational health hazards reported appropriately to the committee concerned.Conclusions: Occupational health hazards are common among hospital health care workers and were adequately reported. Training of the health workers on measures to mitigate these hazards may also enhance the reporting behavior and its management when it occurs.

[学科分类] 基础医学

[关键词] Occupation;Health care workers;Hazards;Nigeria.