Assessment of Occupational Hazards Among Students of Nursing And Midwifery in Clinical Practice, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2009
Creators: name: Fite, Teferi
Publisher: name: National Academic Digital Repository of Ethiopia
Year: 2009

description: Background: In their every day clinical practice, Nurses and Midwife students are at risk of occupational hazards especially risk of exposure to blood born pathogens potentially resulting to infections. The Nurse and Midwife students are prone to occupational health hazards and they are unrecognized group of health care providers. High levels of occupational hazards are believed to affect students' health and academic functions. If the occupational hazards are not dealt with effectively, feeling of loneliness, sleeplessness and worrying may result. Effective coping strategies facilitate the return to a balanced state, reducing the negative effects of occupational hazards. Therefore, it is better to identify the occupational hazards that the Nurses and Midwife students face during their clinical practice and mechanisms of coping or preventing the occupational hazards. In order to have healthy and productive Nurses and Midwife graduates for the country, assessing the occupational hazards they face in their clinical practice and prompt intervention is very necessary. Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the occupational hazards faced by the Nurses and Midwife students during their clinical practice in all Degree program Nursing and Midwifery Schools in Addis Ababa. Methods: Cross-sectional descriptive survey was conducted from November 2008 to June 2009. 422 self administered questionnaire was distributed to 6 Health College Nurse and Midwife students who were systematically sampled and all have been filled and returned with much effort. The study populations were all of the systematically sampled of the regular Nurses and Midwifery day Degree program students of the six Nursing and Midwifery Schools excluding evening and 1st year students. Data was coded and analyzed using SPSS version 11 for computing frequency distributions. Greater number of responses and percentages were calculated. Result: The majority of the respondents (51.1%) knowledge of occupational hazards was gained from Nursing and Midwifery Schools, followed by books (16.6%) and Journals, (9. 2%). Majority of the study population (93.1%) indicated that they have got needle prick, blood splash and skin cuts during their clinical practice. The result confirms that all the factors mentioned in the work plan such as physical, biological, psychosocial and mechanical factors cause occupational hazards in the clinical practice. Conclusion and recommendation The study showed high rate of occupational hazards and the strongest predictor of needle prick injury, blood splash, and skin cuts, Nurse and Midwife students at risk for blood born pathogens. A safe and healthy practical area for Nurse and Midwife students is necessary for safe patient care and implementing control measures as well as preventive measures such as using universal precautions and managing shortage of preventive materials in clinical practical areas are recommended