Occupational problems with microscopy in the pathology laboratory

Abstract

Dear Sir:In the clinical laboratory, many workers spend prolonged periods at microscopy, but there is little appreciation of the range and severity of the work-related problems that may ensue. We administered a questionnaire to assess the magnitude of occupational problems associated with microscope use in the pathology laboratory.Laboratory personnel in Ireland were interviewed through an anonymized questionnaire. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the St. James's and Federation of Dublin Voluntary Hospitals Ethics Committee. There were 62 respondents with equal numbers of males and females. The response rate was approximately 40%. Personnel were predominately histopathologists or cytopathologists working at consultant level. The majority were less than 50 years of age. Table 1 is a summary of the main results.This study reports a high incidence of visual and musculoskeletal problems (some serious) in the pathology laboratory associated with microscopy use. Three quarters reported episodic musculoskeletal problems involving predominately the neck, back, and shoulder and 20% noted repetitive strain injuries. More than half of those affected required some therapy and 5% had taken sick leave. Visual problems, predominately eye fatigue, were indicated by more than half the respondents. Interestingly quite a significant number of respondents who performed routine microscopy less than the median number of hours per week (20.5h) still reported quite a high incidence of either occupationally associated visual or musculoskeletal problems (39% and 26%, respectively). As expected, there was an increase in the reported visual and musculoskeletal problems once the median number of hours is exceeded (71% and 55%, respectively). Furthermore, the number of years working with a microscope did not have a major impact on the type of occupational injury sustained: Those respondents who worked less than the median number of years (14.5 years) reported a high incidence of either visual or musculoskeletal problems (65% and 32%, respectively) as did those who worked above the median number of years (45% and 42%, respectively).Microscopists should be aware for the potential for work-related illness. Previous studies, involving cytotechnologists and part-time microscopists, have reported similar high rates of neck, shoulder and back pain, eye strain, or headache as a result of working long hours with a conventional light microscope, and related these to the use of non-ergonomic workstations [1][2][3]. It is interesting that there is little fall in the number reporting occupational injuries compared with the older studies. Although specifics on microscope types was not assessed in the questionnaire, it is likely that newer generation microscopes were in use

Occupational concerns associated with regular use of microscope

“…Flavin et al in a similar study found a lack of association between the number of working years and musculoskeletal problems, but they also reported a higher incidence of musculoskeletal problems in those who worked for less than 15 years [12]. In the present study, increased working hours were associated with musculoskeletal problems with all subjects of the group using microscope for more than 30 h/week complaining of some or the other form of musculoskeletal problem.…”

“…Ninety four percent of subjects in our study reported some form of visual problem or a combination, ranging from eye discomfort, headache, dry eye, with maximum subjects complaining of eye fatigue during microscope use. A similar questionnaire study in Ireland by Flavin et al highlighted that 56% of the pathology laboratory personnel suffered from visual problems associated with microscope use, including eye fatigue, eye discomfort, headache, dry eyes, dizziness and nausea [12]. Visual fatigue and discomfort may be a result of difficulty in accommodation and convergence of eye, monotonous work or working without break for prolonged periods [8].…”

Occupational health risks of pathologists - results from a nationwide online questionnaire in Switzerland

“…Pathology is sometimes regarded as a “hidden science”, arising from a public misconception that the work of pathologists exclusively involves performing autopsies, which misses the more important tasks of diagnosing and characterising tumours and infectious diseases in living patients. Numerous potential health hazards are associated with the routine work of pathologists, but publications on this topic are rare and often decades old [2-11]. While pathologists might feel hidden and neglected by the general public, they themselves may neglect the health risks associated with their own work.…”

“…Unfortunately recommendations for such workplaces by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), modified by George, do not appear to match real life working situations [3]. In 2010 Flavin et al reported similar symptoms and results including eye fatigue from microscopic work in an Irish cohort of pathologists and cytologists [2]. …”

Exigências visuais e fadiga visual em médicos oftalmologistas

“…A fadiga visual é, em contexto profissional, um dos distúr-bios oculares mais prevalentes [13][14][15][16][17] . Em síntese, a fadiga visual pode ser caracterizada pela presença de um ou mais sintomas oculares (cansaço visual, sensação de tensão e prurido ocular, irritação ocular, dificuldade em manter a focagem das imagens, "vermelhidão" e "olhos secos", cefaleias frontais e occipitais, entre outros), que podem ser desencadeados pelo uso contínuo dos olhos em atividades prolongadas a uma reduzida distância.…”