ABSTRACT:
Introduction: Healthcare workers are perpetually exposed to a significant number of occupational health hazards while performing their duties and this may negatively impact on their health and well-being. Apartfrom provider behaviors that increase the risk of exposure to hazards, system-level barriers increase the risk of exposure to hazards in healthcare setting. Unsafe conditions in the healthcare environment, lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) also contribute to exposure to occupational hazards.
Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude and perception of occupational hazards among health care workers in UBTH, the types of occupational hazards and injuries with the intension to recommend relevant safety measures.
Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was conducted in April 2021 among healthcare workers in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital. Respondents were selected using stratified sampling technique. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS version 20.0 and quantitative variables were expressed as frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation. Univariate analysis was used to assess the distribution of variables while bivariate analysis was used to determine the association between variables using Chi-square test and Fischer’s exact test. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05.
Results: A total of 450 HCWs participated in this study. The mean age (SD) of the respondents was 35.91±7.992 years with a higher proportion 263 (58.4%) being females. Majority 307 (68.2%) of the respondents were married. Most of the respondents 213 (47.3%) were Benin and the most practiced religion was Christianity 433 (96.2%). Majority of the respondents 408 (90.7%) had good knowledge of occupational hazards. This may be owing to the fact that majority of them had a high level of education. Most of the respondents 448 (99.6%) had a positive attitude towards occupational hazards. Majority of the respondents 448 (99.6%) had good perception towards occupational hazards. There was also a relationship between good knowledge and good perception and this was statistically significant (p<0.05)
Conclusion: There was a high level of knowledge of occupational hazards. Majority of the respondents had positive attitudes towards occupational hazards and the overall perception of occupational hazards was good. This a largely attributed to the high level of education of the respondents.
Keywords: Healthcare workers, Occupational hazards, Healthcare facilities, University of Benin Teaching Hospital.
