Objective As the digitization of the working world progresses, the demands on employees change. Not least, this is true for the setting of public administrations in Germany, which is currently affected by the transformation to E-Government. This study aims to identify and describe a risk cluster of digitally stressed employees in public administrations. Methods An online sample of 710 employees from three public administrations in North Rhine-Westphalia were surveyed about digital stress (7 items) and several potential risk factors (19 items) derived from the current research. In the first step, a hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis is used to detect the risk cluster. This is followed by a comparison to the group of the remaining employees regarding their risk profiles. Results The analysis states that the digitally stressed cluster accounts for approximately ten percent of the public administration’s employees of the total sample. Employees in the risk cluster are less satisfied with on-site work overall, experience less collegial support on-site, experience less collegial support in the home office, resign more often, are more likely to feel overwhelmed, are less educated, are older in age and more often have relatives in need of care. Conclusion This work was able to identify and describe a group of digitally stressed rather than left-behind employees in public administrations to bring awareness to potentially destructive factors in the digital transformation process but eventually to social inequalities. The findings offer the basis for interventions to arise and evoke potential for further research.
Background With the increasing digitalization of the working environment, the demands on managers are changing fundamentally to the point of an emerging field of research in digital leadership. Municipal administrations are particularly affected by the digital transformation processes. Therefore, a score to measure the construct of digital leadership competence in the context of virtual-based workstation was developed and tested. Methods Based on an online survey with n = 546 employees at virtual-based workstations in municipal administrations in 2020, the instrument is tested regarding selectivity (coefficients), dimensionality (principal component analysis), homogeneity (inter-product-moment correlations), reliability (Cronbach’s α) and construct validity (correlation with general leadership skills). Results The instrument can be considered selective, one-dimensional, homogeneous, reliable and constructively valid in the sense of the formulated hypotheses. By integrating the employees’ perspective, the instrument aims to be one of the first of its kind to initiate a scientific further discourse. Among other things, the categorization of the co-determination component as either traditional or digital leadership can be discussed. Conclusions The developed instrument for measuring digital leadership performs well concerning the aspects of discriminatory power, one-dimensionality, homogeneity, reliability as well as construct validity. It aims to induce further research and a scientific discourse on the topic of health-oriented leadership within the world of work 4.0.
Chemical eye burns present an avoidable, but frequent, occupational injury with potentially detrimental consequences for the quality of life and occupational rehabilitation of the injured. A periodical review of guidelines is required to assure the optimal emergency management. We reviewed the literature with emphasis on current German guidelines, primarily MEDLINE. If the crucial first-line measure, the injury prevention has failed and an eye burn has been sustained, the immediate and copious rinsing of the eye is the pivotal emergency treatment modality. Whereas the immediacy and sufficiency of the emergency rinsing are largely unanimous, there is an ongoing debate about the benefits and risks of specific rinsing solutions, and regular updates on guidelines and recommendations for the emergency treatment are warranted. The easiest and readily available rinsing solution is tap water, which fulfils the crucial criteria conveniently in most industrialized countries: purity, sterility, and neutral pH. Other rinsing solutions are proposing higher osmolality to stabilize the physiological pH, because of their superior buffering capacity. However, there is no compelling evidence for a substantial benefit, and some reports suggest that there could be unwanted side effects. In combination with the substantially increased expenditure and a more complex handling procedure, currently a general recommendation of any other solution than tap water is not warranted.
BACKGROUND: The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic acts as a recent driver for telework on a global scale. While visual display unit (VDU) workplaces are usually subject to regulatory requirements or occupational health and safety controls, mobile workplaces may increase the risk of developing work-related musculoskeletal complaints (MSCs). OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the influence of work from home (WFH) on musculoskeletal complaints in the context of German municipal administrations. METHODS: This paper is based on an online survey conducted as part of the Health and Digital Change project in cooperation with three municipal administrations in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. A multivariate model was constructed to calculate the odds ratio for MSCs including various control variables. RESULTS: While bivariate analysis showed a 0.96-fold risk for employees who work from home, the multivariate model with a split between occasional (OR = 0.79) and frequent (OR = 1.59) WFH revealed a more complex effect. Both odds did not reach the significance level. However, the influence of being female (OR = 3.34) and being overweight (OR = 1.51) was confirmed. Regarding age the OR increases by 1.02 per year of life. Other control variables were the municipal affiliation, university entrance qualification, working hours and feeling overstrained. The regression model improved by 0.07 (McFadden R2) compared to the null model. CONCLUSION: Although WFH is discussed as a rising risk factor for MSCs, the findings in this study indicate, that occasional WFH acts as a rather protective factor against work related MSCs.
Background We assessed predictive factors of patients with fractures of the lower extremities caused by trauma. We examined which factors are associated with an increased risk of failure. Furthermore, the predictive factors were set into context with other long-term outcomes, concrete pain and physical functioning. Methods We performed a prospective cohort study at a single level I trauma center. We enrolled patients with traumatic fractures of the lower extremities treated with internal fixation from April 2017 to July 2018. We evaluated the following predictive factors: age, gender, diabetes, smoking status, obesity, open fractures and peripheral arterial diseases. The primary outcome was time to failure (nonunion, implant failure or reposition). Secondary outcomes were pain and physical functioning measured 6 months after initial surgery. For the analysis of the primary outcome, we used a stratified (according fracture location) Cox proportional hazard regression model. Results We included 204 patients. Overall, we observed failure in 33 patients (16.2 %). Most of the failures occurred within the first 3 months. Obesity and open fractures were associated with an increased risk of failure and decreased physical functioning. None of the predictors showed an association with pain. Age, female gender and smoking of more than ≥ 10 package years increased failure risk numerically but statistical uncertainty was high. Conclusions We found that obesity and open fractures were strongly associated with an increased risk of failure. These predictors seem promising candidates to be included in a risk prediction model and can be considered as a good start for clinical decision making across different types of fractures at the lower limbs. However, large heterogeneity regarding the other analyzed predictors suggests that “simple” models might not be adequate for a precise personalized risk estimation and that computer-based models incorporating a variety of detailed information (e.g. pattern of injury, x-ray and clinical data) and their interrelation may be required to significantly increase prediction precision. Trial registration NCT03091114.
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