Exposure to Occupational Biological Hazards among Health Care Workers at Mazabuka General Hospital
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Date
2022
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Abstract
A hospital is not an exception to exposure to biological hazards, while healthcare workers are saving lives, they deserve to be protected from harm especially from biological hazards. With the coming of COVID-19 the number of health care workers getting exposed to biological hazards (tissue, mucus, faeces, and saliva) and some dying has risen, taking into consideration that this has been happen even before despite the measures put in place such as the
personal protective clothing and vaccines to protect health care worker not much difference has been observed. According to World Health Organization (2015) twelve percent (12%) workforce is comprised of health care workers around the world. Health care workers conduct their duties in environment considered more hazardous in terms of occupation setting. In addition to exposures related to their workplaces, health care workers come across various hazards owing to their work related duties. The main aim of this study was to assess exposure to occupational biological hazards among health care workers at Mazabuka General Hospital. The study approach and design for this research was quantitative and a cross-sectional respectively. The study was conducted using descriptive research design by describing the situations as they are to provide factual descriptions. Majority of the respondents (52%, 52/100) had agreed to have contracted an illness due to occupational hazards. 66% of the respondents reported to have been exposed to at least a type of biological hazard and this was accompanied by the process of waste disposal. This research concluded that bacteria is the commonest (55%: 55/100) type of biological hazards, at Mazabuka General Hospital in Mazabuka District. It clearly indicated that the hospital still has loopholes in their safety and hygiene practices and needs to scale up interventions for improvement.
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Research Report Public Health