Evaluation of Occupational Safety in Health Institutions

INTRODUCTION: The aim of the descriptive, cross sectional study is to assess whether the occupational safety of the health personnel working at the hospital is provided and the activities carried out in this regard are evaluated.
METHODS: The study was conducted between 01 June and 31 July 2017. The data were obtained using the Likert- type "Occupational Safety Scale", which was developed by Öztürk and Babacan in 2012. Taking a high score in the scale indicates that occupational safety is provided in the hospitals, and low scores indicate that occupational safety is not provided. In the analysis of the data, number, percentage, mean, Mann Whitney U and Kruskall Wallis test were used. The results were evaluated with a 95% confidence interval and p value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 38.34 ± 4.96, 76.1% of them reported that they read a notification on patient and employees safety in health institutions and 82.6% reported that they participated in an education on the subject. The mean total score of the scale was determined as 153.64±25.83 (min=107, max= 239). The lowest score in the scale subscores; occupational illnesses and complaints (1.98 ± 0.84), managerial support and approaches (2.77 ± 1.08), and the highest score was taken from the health screening and registration system (4.99 ± 0.84).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Measures and practices in the provision of occupational health and safety in hospitals will also increase the safety of patient and employee health. More efforts are needed to ensure occupational safety.