Subjective health perception and peculiarities of work conditions of nursing staff

Abstract

Regular assessment and early interventions are one of the most important means to prevent professional diseases. Objective To establish the subjective health perception and work conditions of nursing staff. Material and methods Using random selection, 250 respondents were chosen who worked at departments of Therapy, Surgery and Intensive Therapy. They completed the questionnaire, which included 4 subsets: Sociodemographic (age, gender, education) Lifestyle factors (smoking, alcohol consumption, nutrition, blood cholesterol level etc.) Work conditions and factors (workload, environment at work, experience etc.) Health (general health estimate, diseases diagnosed, symptoms, consumption of medicines etc.) Results Mainly, the nurses perceived their health as medium (49%) or good (48%), while poor health was mentioned only by 3% of respondents. Emotional strain at work was mentioned by 88% of respondents. 54% of nurses their health harms attributed to disinfection measures at work. The most common skin damages due to disinfection measures at work were skin rashes, flushes and itches. The nurses working in uncomfortable position most often suffered from back (38%), waist (34%) and neck pains. Health disorders due to emotional strain at work were headache (61%), dizziness (29%); 21% of respondents felt drowsiness at work, 88% related depression and emotional strain, and 23% had sleep disorders. Conclusions Good health was reported by 49%, medium health by 48% and poor health by 3% of respondents. Contacts to chemical agents at work were reported by 97%, to biological agents – by 88% of nurses. Fifty-six percent of nurses worked in uncomfortable position. Skin damages were mainly related to work with disinfection measures (54%); weakness, back-, waist- and joint-pains were related with uncomfortable position at work (p<0,05); headaches, dizziness, weakness, sleepiness at work were related with physical and psycholog.