Profile of occupational accidents in a hospital in Manaus, state of Amazonas

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Occupational accidents are caused by predisposing factors, which can be handled by preventive actions. OBJECTIVES: To analyze factors related to work accidents involving professionals in a referral hospital for infectious diseases in the state of Amazonas, Brazil. METHODS: This is an observational, cross-sectional, quantitative study. Data were collected between January 2018 and June 2020 from reports and notification sheets of the Specialized Service in Occupational Health and Safety and Epidemiological Surveillance Group. As for ethical aspects, we followed Resolution No. 466 (2012), which regulates studies with human beings. The study was submitted to and approved by the Research Ethics Committee under protocol No. 3.657.218. RESULTS: Nursing professionals (64.52%), women (77.41%), professionals aged between 42 and 52 years (35.49%), who worked in the public sector (87.10%), and were married (58.06%) were the most affected by accidents. Accidents were mainly work-related (96.77%), represented biological hazards (61.29%), and happened with sharps (51.52%) due to cutaneous injury (48.39%); hands (48.39%) were the main affected site, due to unsafe work conditions (45.16%) during patient care (41.94%). The most frequently used preventive measure was the toolbox talk (41.94%). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides an outline of occurrences, from accidents to the subsequent procedures, and despite being comparable with other studies, provides relevant information for prevention and presents data from a region with few reports of this kind.