Occupational risk between nursing workes in Intensive Therapy Unit

Factors related to intensive care unit Nurses' work engagement: A web-based survey

A questionnaire survey on the personal and work factors related to work engagement among intensive care unit nurses concerning their recovery experiences and the nursing practice environment was conducted using a web-based tool. Two individual factors (demographics and experience on recovery from job stress) and four work factors (work employment type, nursing method, COVID-19 nursing experience, and nursing practice environment) were surveyed. Data from 244 participants were obtained, and survey items were analyzed using a multiple regression analysis with work engagement as the dependent variable. The results show that 3-5 years of nursing experience is significantly associated with lower work engagement. Conversely, certifications for higher-level and specialized nursing, mastery experience such as learning new things, 1-9 days/month of COVID-19 nursing experience, and suitable nursing practice environment were significantly associated with higher work engagement. These factors are considered important for improving the work engagement of intensive care unit nurses.

Cultural adaptation and updating of the Risk assessment and management of exposure of health care workers in the context of covid-19 questionnaire

Objective:

to translate and culturally adapt the Risk assessment and management of exposure of health care workers in the context of covid-19 questionnaire to the Brazilian context and to develop and evaluate a sociodemographic and occupational characterization questionnaire to compose the adapted questionnaire.

Method:

five stages were conducted to adapt the Risk assessment and management of exposure of health care workers in the context of covid-19 questionnaire, namely: translation, synthesis of the translations, evaluation by a committee of judges, back translation and pre-test. As for the complementary questionnaire, it was elaborated and evaluated by a committee of judges and a pre-test was carried out.

Results:

the questionnaires were validated and the pre-test stage was conducted with health workers and students.

Conclusion:

the final version adapted to the Brazilian context was called Questionário de avaliação de risco e gestão da exposição de trabalhadores e estudantes de saúde no contexto da covid-19 and is available for use, together with the final version of the Sociodemographic and occupational questionnaire: Risk assessment and management of exposure of health care workers and students in the context of covid-19. These questionnaires may assist in mitigating the risks of infection, illness and death of health workers and students due to covid-19.

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

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.

Cumprimento às precauções-padrão por profissionais de enfermagem e fatores associados

Resumo Objetivo Verificar o cumprimento às Precauções-Padrão por profissionais de enfermagem e fatores associados. Método Estudo descritivo, transversal, com 522 profissionais de enfermagem, realizado em dois hospitais brasileiros, entre janeiro de 2017 a março de 2018. Os dados foram coletados por meio de um formulário contendo variáveis demográficas e profissionais e a Compliance with Standard Precautions Scale (versão Português-Brasil); posteriormente, analisados por estatísticas descritivas e exploratórias e um modelo de regressão linear múltiplo. Resultados O escore médio global 12,9 (DP=2,5). Técnicos de enfermagem tiveram escores médios estatisticamente significativos maiores (p <0,01) do que enfermeiros. Houve diferença significativa quanto à categoria profissional (p <0,01) e escolaridade (p <0,01), e, marginalmente significativa em relação à idade (p = 0,06). Não houve diferenças quanto à experiência profissional (p = 077), participação em treinamentos (p = 0,79), tipo de hospital (p = 0,13), respectivamente. A escolaridade não contribuiu para um maior cumprimento às medidas (p <0,01), assim como o ensino superior (p ≤ 0,01). Conclusão e Implicações para a prática O aumento na escolaridade e experiência profissional não contribuiu para maior cumprimento às Precações. Por contemplar aspectos da prática de enfermagem, estratégias de prevenção de exposição ocupacional podem ser revistas e aperfeiçoadas.

Factors related to occupational accidents among nursing professionals from a public hospital in northern Brazil between the years 2009 to 2016

Background

Occupational accidents are considered public health problems, where there are gaps regarding studies on this theme in the northern region of Brazil with focus on nursing professionals.

Aims

To analyze the factors related to occupational accidents in nursing professionals occurred in a large public hospital in Belém (PA) from January 2009 to December 2016.

Method

Analytical, retrospective and longitudinal study with a quantitative approach by means of documentary census with a sample of 211 Work Accident Registry. We applied the Variance Analysis (ANOVA) tests for repeated measurements, chi-square of independence and t student for independent samples.

Results

Female workers (72,04%), nursing technicians (88,15%) between the ages of 30 and 36 (34,13%), singles (45,18%) and public servants (95,74%) are most affected by occupational accidents, mainly typical accidents (91,94%). Sharps are the major causative agents (34,12%), morning (p=0,001) and afternoon (p=0,035) shifts have the highest mean number of accidents, and accidents occurred mostly in upper limbs (56,87%) and in the psychiatry sector (34,12%). The highest incidence rates of occupational accidents occurred in 2012 (49.5) and 2014 (60.2) per 1.000 professionals/year.

Conclusion

As much as these results are similar to others evidenced and available in the literature, the study is particular because it is data from a public hospital in the northern region, an area that is not covered by studies of nature this.

Experiences of compliance with standard precautions during emergencies: A qualitative study of nurses working in intensive care units

Aim To explore factors that influence intensive care nurses' experiences of being compliant with standard precautions (SP) during emergencies.

BACKGROUND

Intensive care nurses can be exposed to a greater risk of biohazardous exposure during an emergency. The primary strategy to address the complex variety of biological hazards in clinical practice is represented by the implementation of SP guidelines. Previous research has indicated that nurses' compliance rates with SPs are suboptimal, but no study has focused on the factors influencing compliance during an emergency.

DESIGN

A descriptive qualitative study was conducted in an Italian university hospital with 19 intensive care nurses who had at least two years of work experience in critical care. The nurses were interviewed in four focus groups and were asked about their experiences of being compliant with SPs during an emergency. Data were analyzed using conventional content analysis.

RESULTS

Three themes emerged: conflict, competencies, and context. Conflict was reported regarding the need to save the patient and the need for self-protection through the use of SPs. In particular, nurses had to manage the pressure of limited time. Competencies were identified by nurses' knowledge, attitude, skills, training, and experience. Context was related to the work and organizational conditions during the emergency, including overcrowding.

CONCLUSION

To support intensive care nurses' compliance with SPs during emergencies, conflict, competencies, and context should be audited regularly in clinical practice. The findings of this study could inform infection control programs and training that targets intensive care nurses.