Assessing Occupational Health Hazards Associated with Nursing Practice among Critical Care Nurses

Background: Health professionals are challenged with physical, chemical, and psychological hazards. The major areas in which nurses perform hazardous tasks, patient care, bed making, cleaning and dressing of wounds, medication administration, and performing operations. Aim: to assess the occupational health hazards among critical care nurses. Research design: A descriptive exploratory research design was used in this study. Setting: this study was conducted at internal medicine intensive care unit affiliated to Ain Shams University hospitals. Subjects: A convenient sample of all nurses (50) recruited in previous mentioned setting and accepted to participate in this study. Tools for data collection: Tool (I): Nurses self-administrated questionnaire. Tool II: Assessment of Nurses' knowledge about occupational hazards in the intensive care unit. Tool III Self-reported nurses questionnaire regarding preventive measures for occupational health hazards among critical care nurses in the intensive care unit. Results: 58.0% of them have low exposure to physical hazards, 50.0% of the studied nurses have low exposure to psychological hazards. 32.0% of the studied nurses have moderate exposure to social hazards. Conclusion: There was highly statistically significant positive correlation between total exposure to physical hazards and total psychological hazards, total social hazards and total knowledge. There are a statistically significant relations existed between physical hazards and qualification. Also a statistically significant relations existed between psychological hazard and their gender. As well, a statistically significant relations are exist are between social hazards and age. Recommendations: Guidelines, sufficient booklets and posters regarding health hazards and protective measures should be provided and distributed to all medical departments periodically, so that all nursing staff will be able to read and follow it.