Assessing Knowledge and Awareness of Risk Factors and Impacts of Occupational Injuries Among Primary Health Care Workers in Oron Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State
CHAPTER ONE
Purpose of the Study
Main Objective:
The main objective of the study is to assess the knowledge and awareness of risk factors and impacts of occupational injuries among Primary Healthcare Centres workers in Oron Local Government Area.
Specific Objectives:
- To assess the influence of years of experience on the knowledge and awareness of risk factors of occupational injuries among PHC workers in Oron Local Government Area.
- To find out the influence of level of training on the knowledge and awareness of risk factors of occupational injuries among PHC workers in Oron Local Government Area.
- To determine the influence of age on the knowledge of risk factors of occupational injuries among PHC workers in Oron Local Government Area.
- To determine the knowledge and awareness of the impact of occupational injuries among PHC workers in Oron Local Government Area.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter is concerned with the review of related literature of the study. This was presented under the following headings:
- Definition of occupational injuries
- Model/Theoretical framework
- Conceptual framework on risk factors and impacts of occupational injuries
- Types of common occupational injuries
- Methods of preventing occupational injuries
- Empirical studies of occupational injuries
- Summary of literature review
Definition of Occupational Injuries
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia defined occupational injury as bodily damage resulting from working. The most usual organs involved are the spine, hands, the head, limps, eyes, skeleton and skin.
Common causes of industrial injury are poor ergonomics, manual hand ling of heavy loads, misuse or failure of equipment, exposure to general hazards, inadequate safety training and clothing jewellery or long hair that becomes tangled in machinery.
General hazards in a work environment include electricity, explosive materials, fire, flammable gases and liquids, hot gases and liquids, powerful or sharp moving machinery, oxygen-free gases or spaces, poisonous gases, radiation/toxic materials.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
To achieve the purpose of this study the method used in carrying out this study is explained under the following headings:
- Research design
- Area of the Study
- Population of the Study
- Sample and Sampling Technique
- Instrumentation
- Consent
- Validity and Reliability of the Instruments
- Test of Reliability of Instruments
- Administration of Instrument
- Method of Data Analysis
Research Design
The research design adopted for this study is the descriptive survey method, the design was considered suitable because it involved soliciting information from a large number of correspondents through the use of questionnaire. The design was also considered appropriate because of the accretion of (Denga and Ali, 1989) that it provides data at its natural setting.
Area of the Study
The study area; Oron Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Oron Local Government Area is bounded on the North by Okobo Local Government Area, South by Udung Uko Local Government Area, East by Cross River State and West by Urue Offong/Oruko Local Government Area. It has a population of 87,461 (2006, Census). Their major occupation are fishing, farming and trading, while a few others are civil servants.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
Introduction
This chapter is concerned with the presentation of the data based on the investigation of risk factors and impacts of occupational injuries among PHC workers in Oron Local Government Area. The analyses were based on the four research questions posited to guide the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequencies and simple percentages.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary of Result
The study was designed to assess the knowledge and awareness of risk factors and impacts of occupational injuries among Primary Healthcare workers in Oron Local Government Area. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design and the instrument used for data collection was the questionnaire. The opinion of the respondents were collected through a 14-statement questionnaire using a YES/NO option responses.
The 14 statement questionnaires were put into three groups. The grouping corresponds with the research questions put forward in chapter one. This was done to seek the respondents opinion on:
- Do workers’ years of experience influence their knowledge of risk factors?
- Do healthcare workers level of training influence their knowledge of risk factors?
- Do workers’ age influence their knowledge/awareness of risk factors?
- What are the impacts of occupational injuries among healthcare workers in PHC centres, Oron LGA.
Sixty (60) respondents were randomly drawn from different Primary Healthcare Centres in Oron for the study. Data were collected and analysed and the scores converted into percentages for the purpose of description and answering the research questions.
The result of the findings revealed that workers years of experience contribute significantly in reducing risk factors in occupational health among healthcare workers. It also revealed that the workers are aware of the health hazards associated with improper handling of medical tools though they cannot prevent hazards. The government and the relevant health agencies have significant roles to play on creating awareness on risk factors and impacts of occupational injuries among PHC workers in Oron LGA, though their roles are neglected.
Conclusion
In some cases, the cause of an industrial injury is easy to identify. However, very often there is a hidden chain of events behind the accident which led up to the injury. For example, accidents which are often indirectly caused by negligence on the part of the employer who may not have provided adequate worker training or a supplier who gave the wrong information about a product, etc. The consistently high fatal accident rates in developing countries emphasize the need for occupational health and safety education programmes that focus on prevention.
Based on the findings and discussions, it is therefore concluded that some healthcare workers must imbibe safety consciousness in their work places and that the government and relevant health agencies have significant roles on preventing occupational injuries among healthcare workers in Oron Local Government Area.
Recommendations
Findings and the conclusion of this study formed the basis for the recommendations provided below:
- Training and retraining programmes should be organized to update the knowledge of healthcare workers.
- Protective devices (PPE) and other medical devices should be provided for the workers at all the healthcare centres.
- Government should immunize healthcare workers with hepatitis B and hepatitis C vaccines as a pre-employment policy.
- Young intake or newly employed should be properly guided on the use of medical equipments.
- Pre-employment medical examination of all employees to rule out presence of any health problems and potential hazard in the job.
- Immunization of employees and risk of infection such as tuberculosis, hepatitis B and HIV, where applicable.
- General hygiene of the work environment especially that of the hospitals, schools and many others to avoid accidents and infection dissemination.
- Overall compliance to the standard precautionary measures to procedures by health care workers (HCW) in their work place be given high priority.
Suggestion for Further Studies
In order to advance the study on risk factors and impact of occupational injuries among healthcare workers the following suggestions have been made:-
- Further research should be carried out to include other communities and local government areas in Akwa Ibom State.
- Studies should be carried out to determine the appropriate methods of preventing occupational injuries among healthcare workers.
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