Hygienic Evaluation of Working Conditions and Health State of Medical Personnel of Paraclinical Units

Abstract

Performing their professional activity, medical personnel is permanently subjected to a complex of harmful factors. Specificity of conditions in the paraclinical units directly affects the health of medical workers and often provokes occupational diseases in them. Analysis of publications was carried out and review of literature devoted to hygienic assessment of the working conditions and health study of medical personnel of paraclinical units is presented. According to the studied data, the most harmful are biological, phychoemotional, physical and chemical professional factors. It is worth noting the most significant ones: high nervous-emotional stress, potentially infected biomaterial, various biological agents, uncomfortable microclimate, insufficient illumination of the workplace, hazardous chemical substances, noise, effects of ultrasound, laser and ionizing radiations, of electromagnetic field.The conducted analysis of research works concerning the health condition of medical workers shows that the risk of development of occupational diseases in medical workers is comparable to that in industrial workers. Healthcare in the era of technical progress is characterized by introduction of high-technology kinds of medical assistance, expansion of the list of diagnostic procedures, use of new kinds of equipment and computerization of working places. Works published in recent years, note that all these factors add to already existing unfavorable environmental factors.In the recent decade, much attention has been given to such serious problem as latex allergy in medical workers. Of special interest are publications dedicated to study of subjective assessment of the influence of professional risk factors on an organism. They confirm poor awareness of the workers of paraclinical units of the risks associated with the influence of the occupational environment on the health condition. Many studies note that in medical workers only those diseases are recorded that can no longer be concealed. Some researches associate this with a rather popular phenomena among medical workers self-diagnosis and self-treatment.

Analysis of occupational risk factors causing diseases of the circulatory system in medical workers: Literature review

“…A lot of medical workers are exposed to hazardous factors, notably, intense nervous and emotional strain, uncomfortable microclimate, adverse chemicals, biological agents, noise, ultrasound, laser exposure, ionizing radiation, and insufficient lighting at a workplace [8][9][10][11]. Medical workers are often simultaneously exposed to several adverse occupational factors, from 4 to 7, at their workplaces [12][13][14][15][16]. Occupational activities performed by medical workers involve substantial intellectual loads, elevated requirements to capacity of operative and longterm memory as well as attention; some specialists (doctors and paramedics in emergency aid teams, surgeons) often have to work under extreme conditions in case of an emergency and it requires developing a set of preventive activities aimed at preserving their health and maintaining necessary occupational skills [2,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23] 1 .…”

“…As a result, 48.5 % of medical workers who have to work in shifts suffer from various diseases of the __________________________ circulatory system. Practically all doctors (92.2 %) and 75.0-81.8 % nurses and paramedics complain about high nervous and emotional strain they have to face at their workplaces [14,15,20,21,23,29,44,45].…”