Kumar Lohith, Radhakrishnan Balaji, Khalith Mohammad, Mateti Devi Varaprasad, Venkatraman Vaidya Anantharaman, Senthilnathan Meenakshisundaram, Sellam George Jano Roy, Ganapathy Shivashekar, Ramamurthy Bhuvanamha Devi
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Sri Ramaswamy Memorial Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Sri Ramaswamy Memorial (SRM) Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, IND.
Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Madanapalle, IND.
Cureus. 2024 Nov 7;16(11):e73245. doi: 10.7759/cureus.73245. eCollection 2024 Nov.
Clinical laboratories form an important link in the healthcare chain. Raising the safety standards is an important aspect of the transformation of an organizational culture to provide good-quality healthcare services. The present study aims to determine the safety practices and perceptions of the existing system of safety among laboratory employees.
This observational cross-sectional study was carried out among laboratory healthcare workers at a tertiary care hospital in Tamil Nadu, India. A pilot study (10% of the sample size) was also done to assess reliability. The sample size is 150: n = Z²pq / d², where Z = 1.96, p = 38.7, q = 61.3, and d = 7.7. Substituting the values in the formula, we have: n = [(1.96)² x 38.7 x 61.3] / (7.7)² = 150. The study was conducted using a questionnaire to gather demographic and professional data and details regarding the safety practices and perceptions of the existing system of safety among laboratory employees. Statistical analysis was done using Microsoft Excel 2010 (Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA) and IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 23.0 (Released 2015; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States).
In this study, there were 99 female and 51 male participants. In the safety practices among laboratory technicians, 62% (n = 93) noted that they do not wash their hands before wearing gloves and 20% (n = 30) consume food and beverages during work hours. In the responses to perceptions related to job responsibilities, 50.7% (n = 76) of the lab technicians consider that noise in the workplace causes a disturbance, and 47.3% (n = 71) consider that infrequent cleaning of air conditioners causes health issues. The rest of the items in the questionnaire have scores between 80 and 100%. Safety practices in relation to safety perceptions were statistically significant with respect to age, overall safety perception, job responsibilities, and communication.
Overall, lab employees have high awareness and good adherence to safety practices. The current study concludes that a regular assessment of the safety climate is one way to enhance the organizational culture, motivate the workforce, and improve the quality of health services because it enables the identification of the aspects that require more attention and collaboration on quality to create a safety culture that encourages continuous improvement.
临床实验室是医疗保健链中的重要环节。提高安全标准是转变组织文化以提供优质医疗服务的一个重要方面。本研究旨在确定实验室员工对现有安全系统的安全实践和认知情况。
本观察性横断面研究在印度泰米尔纳德邦一家三级护理医院的实验室医护人员中进行。还进行了一项预试验（样本量的10%）以评估可靠性。样本量为150：n = Z²pq / d²，其中Z = 1.96，p = 38.7，q = 61.3，d = 7.7。将这些值代入公式可得：n = [(1.96)²×38.7×61.3] / (7.7)² = 150。该研究通过问卷调查来收集人口统计学和专业数据，以及关于实验室员工对现有安全系统的安全实践和认知的详细信息。使用Microsoft Excel 2010（微软公司，华盛顿州雷德蒙德）和IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows，版本23.0（2015年发布；IBM公司，美国纽约州阿蒙克）进行统计分析。
在本研究中，有99名女性和51名男性参与者。在实验室技术人员的安全实践方面，62%（n = 93）表示他们在戴手套前不洗手，20%（n = 30）在工作时间进食和饮用饮料。在对与工作职责相关认知的回答中，50.7%（n = 76）的实验室技术人员认为工作场所的噪音会造成干扰，47.3%（n = 71）认为空调不经常清洁会导致健康问题。问卷中的其他项目得分在80%至100%之间。在安全认知方面的安全实践在年龄、总体安全认知、工作职责和沟通方面具有统计学意义。
总体而言，实验室员工对安全实践有较高的认识且依从性良好。当前研究得出结论，定期评估安全氛围是增强组织文化、激励员工队伍和提高医疗服务质量的一种方式，因为它能够识别需要更多关注和质量协作的方面，以创建一种鼓励持续改进的安全文化。
