Prevalence and Risk Factors of Occupational Health Hazards among Health Care Workers of Northern Saudi Arabia: A Multicenter Study

Ashokkumar Thirunavukkarasu, Khaloud Amash Hossin Alrawaili, Ahmad Homoud Al-Hazmi, Umar Farooq Dar, Bashayer ALruwaili, Ayesha Mallick, Farooq Ahmed Wani and Amnah Ibrahim E Alsirhani
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Ashokkumar Thirunavukkarasu: Department of Community and Family Medicine, College of Medicine, Jouf University, Sakaka 72388, Saudi Arabia
Khaloud Amash Hossin Alrawaili: Department of Public Health, Tarif Al-Salhiya Health Center, Ministry of Health, Turaif 3753, Saudi Arabia
Ahmad Homoud Al-Hazmi: Department of Community and Family Medicine, College of Medicine, Jouf University, Sakaka 72388, Saudi Arabia
Umar Farooq Dar: Department of Community and Family Medicine, College of Medicine, Jouf University, Sakaka 72388, Saudi Arabia
Bashayer ALruwaili: Department of Community and Family Medicine, College of Medicine, Jouf University, Sakaka 72388, Saudi Arabia
Ayesha Mallick: Department of Community and Family Medicine, College of Medicine, Jouf University, Sakaka 72388, Saudi Arabia
Farooq Ahmed Wani: Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Jouf University, Sakaka 72388, Saudi Arabia
Amnah Ibrahim E Alsirhani: Department of Family medicine, Ministry of Health, Tabuk Region, Tabuk City 47512, Saudi Arabia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 21, 1-14

Abstract: Health care workers (HCWs) working in different health care facilities are exposed to many hazards, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This questionnaire-based cross-sectional study aimed to assess the prevalence, pattern, and risk factors of occupational health hazards faced by 438 randomly selected HCWs from northern Saudi Arabia. The HCWs are commonly exposed to needle stick injuries (34.5%) under the biological hazards category; and work-related stress (69.6%) under the non-biological hazards categories. The significant associated factors were work setting (ref: Primary Health Center: Adjusted OR (AOR) = 2.81, 95%CI = 1.21–4.59, p = 0.017), smoking status (ref.: non-smoker: AOR = 1.73, 95%CI = 1.03–2.91, p = 0.039), and mean sleeping duration per day (AOR = 1.22, 95%CI = 1.04–1.43, p = 0.014) for biological, and smoking status (ref: non-smoker: AOR = 2.16, 95%CI = 1.09–3.29, p = 0.028), and mean sleeping duration per day (AOR = 1.35, 95%CI = 1.07–1.70, p = 0.013) for non-biological categories. This study revealed several risk factors and occupational health hazards that HCWs are exposed to during their work time. Periodic training and follow-up assessments regarding bio-safety measures for the HCWs should be implemented. Finally, future explorative studies are warranted on the feasibility of implementing rotation-based postings for the HCWs in different health care settings.

Keywords: occupational health hazards; risk factors; health care workers; work-related stress (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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