Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt.
Public Health and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2018 Nov;25(31):30826-30838. doi: 10.1007/s11356-017-9110-6. Epub 2017 May 17.
Hospital workers are exposed to many occupational hazards that may threaten their health and safety. Physical hazards encountered in hospital working environment include temperature, illumination, noise, electrical injuries, and radiation. To assess the awareness of healthcare workers (HCWs) about physical hazards in Tanta university hospitals, this cross-sectional study included 401 HCWs (physicians, nurses, technicians, and workers) from seven departments (general surgery, orthopedics, radiology, ophthalmology, kitchen, incinerator, and laundry). Data were collected through interview questionnaire to assess six types of physical hazards (noise, electric hazards, temperature, radiation, fire, and lighting,). Most of the physicians (63.7%) were aware of the level of noise. All physicians, nurses, technicians, and majority of workers reported that hearing protective devices were not available, and all HCWs reported that periodic hearing examination was not performed. Most of the nurses (75.2%) and workers (68.5%) did not attended emergency training, and more than two thirds of all HCWs were not briefed about emergency evacuation. Most HCWs were not given appropriate radiation safety training before starting work (88% of workers, 73.7% of nurses, 65.7% of physicians, and 68.3% of technicians). The majority of physicians, nurses, and technicians (70.5, 65.4, and 53.7%) denied regular environmental monitoring for radiation level inside work place. Health education programs on health and safety issues regarding physical hazards should be mandatory to all healthcare workers to improve their awareness and protect them from undue exposures they may face due to lack of adequate awareness and knowledge. There is urgent need of expanding the occupational healthcare services in Egypt to cover all the employees as indicated by the international recommendations and the Egyptian Constitution, legislation, and community necessity.
医院工作人员面临许多职业危害，这些危害可能威胁到他们的健康和安全。医院工作环境中遇到的物理危害包括温度、照明、噪音、电击和辐射。为了评估坦塔大学医院医护人员（HCWs）对物理危害的认识，这项横断面研究包括来自七个部门（普通外科、骨科、放射科、眼科、厨房、焚化炉和洗衣房）的 401 名 HCWs（医生、护士、技师和工人）。通过访谈问卷收集数据，以评估六种类型的物理危害（噪音、电击危害、温度、辐射、火灾和照明）。大多数医生（63.7%）意识到噪音水平。所有医生、护士、技师和大多数工人报告说，没有听力保护设备，所有 HCWs 报告说没有进行定期听力检查。大多数护士（75.2%）和工人（68.5%）没有参加紧急培训，超过三分之二的 HCWs 没有接受过紧急疏散简报。大多数 HCWs 在开始工作之前没有接受适当的辐射安全培训（88%的工人、73.7%的护士、65.7%的医生和 68.3%的技师）。大多数医生、护士和技师（70.5%、65.4%和 53.7%）否认定期对工作场所内的辐射水平进行环境监测。应该向所有医护人员强制实施关于物理危害健康和安全问题的健康教育计划，以提高他们的认识，并保护他们免受因缺乏足够的认识和知识而可能面临的不当暴露。正如国际建议、埃及宪法、立法和社区需求所表明的那样，埃及迫切需要扩大职业医疗保健服务，以覆盖所有员工。
