| dc.description.abstract | Background: Health care workers operate in an environment that is considered to be one of the most hazardous occupational settings. Although most workplace hazards can be mitigated or prevented, health care workers still have amongst the highest rates of occupation related injuries and illnesses of all workers.
Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence and factors associated with occupational hazards among health workers in Arua regional referral hospital, Arua district between March and July 2015.
Method: A descriptive cross sectional study was employed to assess the the prevalence and factors associated with occupational hazards among health workers in Arua regional referral hospital, Arua district between March and July 2015. A total of 131 health workers at Arua Regional Referral Hospital were included in this study using non probability, convenient sampling technique. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 17.
Result: From the assessment done the prevalence of occupational hazards was high at 82.4%. Most of the respondents 88.9% agreed that repetitive strain injuries was the most encountered occupational hazards. Gender (X2=6.359, P=0.017), profession (X2=3.048, P=0.034), level of qualification (X2=24.419, P=0.000, Availability of guidelines (X2=16.83, P=0.031), delegation of occupation hazards safety activities in the hospital (X2=9.33, P=0.007), given training on occupational hazards and safety in the hospital (X2=9.91, P=0.000), information on occupational hazards (X2=8.183, P=0.022) and sufficient protective gears (X2=8.183, P=0.022) were significantly associated with occupational hazards
Conclusion: The findings highlight the need for going educational, informational and improving on the occupational hazards and preventive measure such as vaccination of health workers to address the factors of occupational hazards in order to decrease the rate of occupational hazards | en_US |
