Prevalence of Occupational Diseases and Practice of Safety Control Measures Among Health Workers of General Hospital Minna

Abstract

This study determines the prevalence of occupational diseases and safety practices among health workers of General Hospital, Minna. The study was Cross Sectional Descriptive. Stratified Sampling Technique was adopted. Semi structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Data were analyzed in frequency tables. The most common occupational disease among the respondents include: stress & exhaustion 61.2%, needle stick injury 52.8% and neck and low back pain 56.4%. Fortytwo point eight percent (42.8%) of the respondents have received at least one dose of Hepatitis B vaccine. Majority (57.2%) have never received the vaccine. There was no association between socio-demographic characteristics and the receipt of vaccine. About 18.4% of the respondents have been exposed to fluids of HIV/AIDS patients through needle stick injury. Majority of them (60.9%) have gone for post exposure prophylaxis against HIV. More than half of the respondents, 58.8% have been using Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The study concludes that there is poor knowledge, attitude and high level of practice of control of occupational hazards among health workers who were examined. Health education and training of health workers on occupational hazards and their control should be enhanced.

Segregation Practices by Health Workers in Urban Hospitals - A Step Necessary to Achieve Minimization and Effective Biomedical Waste Management

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“…The proportion that used PPE regularly was higher than findings from similar studies among other healthcare workers in Lagos and Niger states where only about 4 out of 10 and 6 out 10 participants adopted safety practices at work respectively. 12,15 Also, the use of PPE among healthcare workers at a tertiary healthcare institution was observed to be very low compared with the findings from this study. 16 This could be due to variation in the implementation of hazard control policies of the institution and availability of PPE because respondents in both studies demonstrated high level of awareness of PPE.…”