Hospital employees and skin problems

Abstract

A total of 1481 hospital employees answered a questionnaire on atopy, hand eczema, and dry chapped hands. Out of 864 (58.7%) responders, 17% claimed to suffer from hand eczema. There was not significantly more hand eczema among women (17.6%) than men (15.7%). Atopic disposition was present in 17.5% of responders, of whom a significantly higher number (36.4%) claimed to have hand eczema. Dry chapped hands seemed to be a problem in 33.1%, mainly among nurses, assistant nurses and laboratory assistants. Technicians and X-ray assistants (38%) and kitchen workers (35.7%) claimed to suffer significantly more from hand eczema than others. Their working conditions were inspected. Following examination by a dermatologist, irritant contact eczema was diagnosed in 11 of 17, and occupational eczema in 3. None of the janitors or technical workers (all men) had hand eczema.

Occupational Allergy in Medical Doctors

“…On the other hand, most cases with hand dermatitis in hospital employees were considered to be from not allergy, but irritation 3,10) except for latex allergy. Thus, doctors should choose not only non-allergy-inducing but also non-irritating disinfectant.…”

“…In Europe, some studies have described occupational allergy in hospital employees [1][2][3][4][5] . Contact dermatitis of the hands was the major occupational skin disease among occupational allergies in these employees.…”

Hand dermatitis among paediatric nurses

“…Frequent hand washing, soap, constant dampness of the hands and contact with substances and disinfectant agents to prevent infections can cause allergic reactions on the hands. These agents also make it easier for irritation, itching, dryness and cracks to appear (Kavli et al. 1987).…”

Excesso de peso: característica dos trabalhadores de cozinhas coletivas?

“…Essas condições, agravadas ou determinadas pelo projeto do espaço, dos equipamentos (descritos como precários e muitas vezes inadequados) e da organização, podem explicar a relação entre o trabalho em cozinhas e problemas de saúde, como mostram alguns estudos no casos de sintomas respiratórios (SVENDSEN et al, 2003), dermatites (KAVLI et al, 1987), queimaduras (RIINA et al, 2000) e doenças musculoesqueléticas (ASSUNÇÃO, 1998;ONO et al, 1997ONO et al, , 1998.…”