School of Pharmacy, Management and Science University, MY.
Migrant Workers Health Research Network, MY.
Ann Glob Health. 2018 Aug 31;84(3):338-341. doi: 10.29024/aogh.2316.
Healthcare workers are prone to occupational hazards. The study aims to identify the occupational health hazards among healthcare workers in the Philippines and its essential relevant developmental framework. This article evolved on the responses of participants on how they can improve strategies and barriers for healthcare workers to comply with Occupational Health and Safety (OSH).
A qualitative study design in which 15 healthcare workers from nurses (4), pharmacists (3), medical technologies (4) and medical doctors (4) participated: two focus group of three to four participants each and eight in-depth interviews. The thematic sessions were identified, including occupational health and safety policy implementations, hazards experiences, barriers, and strategies for quality improvement for OSH. Focus groups and interviews using transcript-based analysis were identified relating to emerging themes on the challenges they had experienced while accessing provisions of OSH in their workplace.
Majority of the participants revealed the existence of policy on Occupational Health and Safety (provisions, guidelines and regulations on OHS from the government) and mentioned that there were limited OHS officers to supervise the healthcare workers in their workplace. Some have limited accessibility to the requirements of the implementation of OHS (free facemasks, gloves, disinfectants, machines, OSH staff, etc.) among healthcare workers, while the workload of the staff in the implementation of OHS in the workplace gradually increased. The results indicated that the respondents were knowledgeable in the implementation of OHS in the workplace, and that there was no existing ASEAN framework on the protection and promotion of the rights of healthcare workers in their workplace. Facilities need to improve health assessment, and to ensure constant evaluation of the existing laws for healthcare workers (quality assurance of existing policies) in their working areas. Direct access to OSH officers, occupational hazards education, emergency contact etc. must be improved. Adherence must be strengthened to fully comply with the OHS standards.
The researchers inferred that issues and concerns regarding compliance on provisions of occupational health and safety among health care workers must be properly addressed through immediate monitoring and reevaluation of personnel in terms of their knowledge and practices in OHS. Barriers and challenges have been identified in the study that can lead to improved compliance among healthcare workers in regards to OHS.
医护人员容易受到职业危害。本研究旨在确定菲律宾医护人员的职业健康危害及其基本相关发展框架。本文是基于参与者对如何改进策略和障碍以促使医护人员遵守职业健康与安全（OSH）的回应而演变的。
本研究采用定性设计，参与者包括 15 名医护人员（护士 4 名、药剂师 3 名、医学技术人员 4 名和医生 4 名）：两组各有三到四名参与者的焦点小组和八次深入访谈。确定了主题会议，包括职业健康和安全政策的实施、危害经历、障碍以及提高 OSH 质量的策略。使用基于转录的分析对焦点小组和访谈进行了识别，这些分析涉及到他们在工作场所获得 OSH 规定方面所经历的挑战的主题。
大多数参与者都表示存在职业健康与安全政策（政府关于 OHS 的规定、准则和法规），并提到工作场所只有有限的 OSH 官员来监督医护人员。一些医护人员在工作场所获得 OHS 实施的要求（免费口罩、手套、消毒剂、机器、OSH 人员等）存在限制，而工作人员在工作场所实施 OSH 的工作量逐渐增加。结果表明，受访者对工作场所实施 OHS 有一定的了解，并且在工作场所没有现有的东盟框架来保护和促进医护人员的权利。设施需要改进健康评估，并确保对现有医护人员的法律进行持续评估（现有政策的质量保证）。必须改善对 OSH 官员、职业危害教育、紧急联系等的直接访问。必须加强遵守，以完全遵守 OHS 标准。
研究人员推断，必须通过立即监测和重新评估人员在 OHS 方面的知识和实践，妥善解决医护人员遵守职业健康和安全规定方面的问题和关注。研究中确定了一些障碍和挑战，这些障碍和挑战可以提高医护人员在 OSH 方面的合规性。
