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Nurses’ health risks

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Nurses’ health risks

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Nurses’ health risks

Introduction

Healthcare setting is characterized by a complex environment that exposes nurse to various occupational risk factors. A healthy work environment motivates both employees and managerial teams. In nursing practice, a healthy work environment forms a safety culture that is essential in work performance. Nurses are exposed to several challenges, which include safety and health challenges. Addressing their challenges is a foundation of developing a patient-centered, professional, accountable, and efficient team.

The safety of nurses form risks such as illnesses and injuries are of importance to nurses and patients they attend to. Healthy and refreshed nursing staff are essential for the provision of monitoring, vigorous advocacy, and emphatic patient care. Some nursing work stressors might cause injuries and diseases in the work environment. The stressors are linked to the immediate work context, organizational characteristics, and changes taking place in the entire health care sector. Nurses face both psychological and physical demands during their workday.

History

Accidents were common in the early 1900s, and legislation, as well as public opinion, favored management. There were few worker safety protections during that time. Currently, industrial safety is better than how it was in the past. Workplace safety health and safety control were not considered by the labor department prior to 1970. The worker’s safety in the United States started in 1970 after approval of the Occupational and safety health act (OSH). A federal body responsible for employee safety and health was officially created in April 1971 (Resources, 2019). Over the years, OSHA extended its focus and scope to how it is today.

 

Risks

Nursing workplace hazards lead to acute and long term health impairment. They include musculoskeletal disorders or injuries, cardiovascular, neoplastic, and metabolic diseases, and infections. Nursing risks are categorized into six groups. These categorizations are biological, chemical, physical, ergonomic, psychological, and safety (Mehrdad, 2020).

Biological risks

In hospitals or other health care settings, nurses are exposed to contagious diseases as well as infections. Some to the infection are tuberculosis, coronavirus, bloodborne diseases like hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV/ AIDs, and hand transmissions such as Clostridium difficile. Moreover, nurses can be exposed to multidrug-resistant microorganisms such as MDR – TB and MRSA.  Nurses continue to be exposed to bloodborne infections, which threatens their health and life. Needlestick is the major cause of these infections. Needlestick injuries expose nurses to hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV. The infection risk arises when a nurse is injured with a needlestick contaminated with blood, and when the injury is considerably deep. The daily duties of nurses involve injections with increasing the risks.

To control biological risks, hospitals are supposed to have an effective as well as an active program to prevent infections. The program creates awareness for nurses and other staff members about biological risks that may arise in the system. It makes sure that the hospital is caring about nurse health. However, needle stick injuries are a risk area for most nurses due to work practices and education. Most needlestick injuries remain unreported, which risk the health of injured nurses. The night shift needlestick injuries are more than the day shift injuries. The trend occurs due to staff reduction during the night shift, fatigue, and poor lighting.

Needlestick injury prevention is multifaceted. Nurse education focuses on injury avoidance, standard disposal, and reporting of injuries. Furthermore, the injuries can be prevented through environmental conditions. For instance, lack of disposal units in all rooms which may make them place the uncapped needle in pockets, which is risky.

Exposure to chemicals

In the hospital environment, nurses have a risk factor for chemical contaminations. Nurses are exposed to many toxic chemicals. The chemicals can be in various forms, such as gases, skin contaminants, and aerosols. They handle various chemical substances when attending patients. Chemical exposures can be on either acute or chronic forms depending on the primary exposure route, compounds administered, and practice sites. Nurses are exposed to anesthetic gases and waste anesthetic gases, latex, janitorial cleaning, sterilization, and disinfectant chemicals. Moreover, they can be exposed to pharmaceutical products as well as medicines like opioids. The use of pesticides is another issue of concern that risks nurses’ health. Chemical substances such as volatile organic compounds,  pesticides, sterilant, disinfectants and cleaners, pharmaceuticals, and latex are risk factors to nurses’ health (Jacksonville, 2019).

Most medications used for personal care have some toxic impacts. Many medications can be risky for exposes nurses to risk, but some are risker than others. The commonly hazardous medication for nurses is anesthesia and antineoplastics. Anesthetic gases escape into the air, increasing the chances of nurses inhaling them. Also, some administration methods are a risk factor in nurses’ health. Exposure to antineoplastic medications increases abortion chances for pregnant nurses. The exposures are associated with genotoxicity, cytotoxicity, carcinogenicity, and teratogenicity.

Nurse’s health can be negatively affected by exposure to natural rubber latex proteins. Latex allergy and continued exposer to latex can force nurses to end their careers due to progressive impairment. Moreover, occupational asthma can be caused by the aerosolization of latex particles attached to latex powder gloves or bursting latex balloons.

Nurses are exposed to sterilant when they are cleaning the working surface and medical equipment. The commonly used sterilant in healthcare settings is ethylene oxide and glutaraldehyde. The two sterilants are effective as well as powerful, but they can negatively affect human health. Glutaraldehyde causes serious respiratory problems such as asthma, dermatitis, conjunctivitis, and skin irritation. Sterilants cause a serious health risk to nurses.

To prevent risks associated with chemical exposure, nurses and hospital have to adhere to OSHA cytotoxic drug handling guidelines. Some to the guidelines is the use of the filtered respiratory unit in there is no biological cabinet as well as special body excretions handling guidelines.

Ergonomic and physical risks

Ergonomic risk arises in situations where there is physical demand for repetition, force, prolonged activities, and awkward postures. The activities involve lifting, walking, prolonged standing, and overexertion, among others. Nursing is physically demanding and bending, and twisting activities are a risk factor to nurses back injuries. The exposure often takes place during patient transfers, which demands rotation as well as flection. Nurses are exposed to occupational, physical risks such as lasers, and radiations (x-ray and radioisotopes radiations). The exposure to radiations is linked to both teratogenic and mutagenic properties, which increases risks of leukemia, bone and skin cancer, miscarriage, and stillbirth. Nurses are exposed to radiations when holding patients undergoing radiographs and when offering care to patients who are undergoing both transplants and nuclear medication testing (Reese, 2018). Moreover, nurses who are attached to portable x rays departments are exposed to radiation. Additionally, nurses are exposed to physical risks when liquid can pour in floors leading to falls, trips, and slips.

Psychological risks

Healthcare settings, such as hospitals, are associated with several challenges.  Nurses face several challenges while on duties, which affects their psychology significantly. They are faced with violence, such as being left alone with patients and working alone. Stresses are triggered due to nursing responsibilities for providing care, attending to emergencies, and make some vital decisions while there is no assistance from others. The routine is disrupted at the most time by emergency events. The majority of nurses tend to work for long shifts and work days extensions. This can lead to fatigue and burnout (Dyrbye et al., 2017).

Nurses are working with either chronically or terminally ill patients, in emergency rooms, intensive care units, operating room, and burn unit experiences stress linked symptoms. The symptoms include ulcers, loss of appetite, emotional instability, sleep disturbances, and migraine headaches. Factors such as dealing with demanding patients, understaffing, difficult schedules, overwork, and dealing with critically ill patients contribute to stress (Esin & Sezgin, 2017). Nurses’ burnout arises when stress symptoms are not detected and addressed early. Moreover, stress may force nurses to adopt unhealthy behaviors such as cigarette usage, drug use, and alcoholism. In mental healthcare facilities, nurses are exposed to patient violence. Other risky environments include pediatric units, emergency departments, and surgical units.

The work environment in which nurses operate exposes them to compassion fatigue and burnout. Nurses have to cope with sickness and deaths, which can lead to building up of emotional grief over the years. Nurses tend to put patients first because that is what their work entails. At times some nurses neglect themselves.

The link between work schedules and nurse health is influenced by the job characteristics, work environment, and schedule features such as time shifts and length, rest breaks, and pattern of off days. Some workers benefit from work shifts while it affects others negatively. Long workings shifts can lead to excessive fatigue. At times nurses find themselves working for more than a duration of 12 hours.

Nurses work in a highly stressful as well as busy environments due to huge responsibilities associated with nursing. At a certain time, they rush through tasks to make sure that their essential duties are carried out. They deal with patients who are difficult to handle, angry, and rude. Patients have different character traits, whereby some do not comply with the set guidelines.

Impact on nursing care

Psychological risks tend to have a huge influence on patient nursing care. Generally, nurses’ health risks lead to the decline of nursing care provision. The productivity of nurses is significantly affected by various occupational hazards in several ways. Good health is an important factor in every aspect of production, whether it is in the health care sector or other sectors. A healthy population is more productive than an unhealthy one.

Some occupational risks can make nurses adopt unhealthy behaviors such as alcoholism and drug use.  This leads to work absenteeism and also performance decline. They tend to attend nurses in a less efficient manner.

Excessive fatigue and burnout can make nurses lose compassion toward patients. Nurse in their job is guided by compassion towards patients—the compassion act as a driving force that encourages nurses to serve patients effectively. Nurses’ risks can make them loose compassion toward patients.

Fatigue and burn out increases errors during nursing care. Nurses are human beings with the capability of making errors due to overwork and fatigue. Nurses may prescribe the wrong medications when attending patients or even misdiagnose patients. Errors in health care are very critical; they can result in worsening of the patient’s condition or even death.

Interventions

There are several techniques for preventing nurses’ health risks. The nature of the risk is considered when determining the intervention approach.  Some of the prevention approaches are discussed below:

Needlestick injuries prevention

The prevention of needle stick injuries requires both employers and nurses. The employer duties are: creating a bloodborne infection control program in line with OSHA (occupational safety and health administration) standards and eliminating the usage of needle devices by considering other effective alternatives and offering safe needle devices and post-exposure examinations. Offering sharp containers and assessing sharp linked injuries.

Nurses are required to handle needle safely and another sharp object safely by opting for needle alternatives whenever it is possible—avoiding bending as well as recapping of contaminated needles. Safe disposal and handling of needles. Storing sharp containers out of children’s reach as well as securing sharps containers when transporting them (Jahangiri et al., 2016)—engaging in bloodborne pathogen training programs.

Use of proper protective gears

Latex allergy is a health risk for most nurses. Nurses are required to used latex gloves while attending to clients to avoid contact with toxic and allergy-causing chemicals as well as pathogens. If a nurse is allergic to the powder in a latex glove, he or he has to avoid using lotions, consider using other gloves, and thorough washing of hands after removing them (Steel, 2018).

Do not tolerate workplace violence

Nurses are highly vulnerable to occupational violence. Violence is most common when there is low staffing as well as during a busy period, like mealtime and visiting hours. In remote locations, some nurses work alone, which makes them vulnerable to violence. To minimize the violence risk, nurses have to familiarize themselves with the patients, especially those with violet behaviors, alcoholism, and dementia (Copeland & Henry, 2017). Moreover, if it is possible, nurses should avoid working alone in risky environments.

Back injury

Most commonly, nurses report neck, back, and head injuries, which are associated with patients handling, especially when lifting them. A nurse can prevent injuries by pushing instead of pulling whenever it is applicable. This reduces back strain because a nurse generates double power. A nurse should be close to a machine or bed being used to avoid stretching. Whenever lifting something from the floor, it is advisable to lift while squatting while he back is straight, knees bent, and the legs lift. Get assistance when lifting something from a waist level.

Education

Education is vital for nursing health safety programs. Knowledge about occupational risks enables nurses to successfully mitigate the risks (Kishore, 2017). The education should put nurses’ unique stressors and experience levels into consideration. Every occupational nursing risk is addressed with specific training and teaching strategies. Identification of a nurse’s needs and the problem is vital in the formulation of successful training and education component. The education approach first considers whether education is required and then determines training methods.

Occupation nurses’ health risks within a hospital setting can be of chemical, biological, psychological, and physical nature. Nurses’ health occupation risks are a serious problem in a hospital setting. However, nurses have the ability to make significant contributions to the environment. The nurse’s health risks can be prevented through the application of education and risk analyses to create awareness about potential risks. The nurses’ occupational health risks field requires more detailed research to create an understanding of health outcomes and occupational nurses’ risk extent.

 

References

Copeland, D., & Henry, M. (2017). Workplace violence and perceptions of safety among emergency department staff members: Experiences, expectations, tolerance, reporting, and recommendations. Journal of trauma nursing24(2), 65-77.

Dyrbye, L. N., Shanafelt, T. D., Sinsky, C. A., Cipriano, P. F., Bhatt, J., Ommaya, A., … & Meyers, D. (2017). Burnout among health care professionals: a call to explore and address this underrecognized threat to safe, high-quality care. NAM Perspectives.

Esin, M. N., & Sezgin, D. (2017). Intensive care unit workforce: occupational health and safety. Intensive care, 1-19.

Jacksonville. (2019). Jacksonvilleu.Com. https://www.jacksonvilleu.com/blog/nursing/health-and-safety-hazards-nurses-face-every-day/

Kishore, J., Banerjee, R., & Mittal, A. (2017). Occupational Health and Safety in Healthcare Settings–Effect of Training on the Knowledge of Resident Doctors. Int. J. HealthCare, Edu. & Med. Inform4(3&4), 3-4.

Mehrdad, R. (2020). Introduction to Occupational Health Hazards. Int J Occup Environ Med (The IJOEM)11(1 January), 1889-59.

Reese, C. D. (2018). Occupational health and safety management: a practical approach. CRC press.

Resources, E. I. (2019). A Brief History of Occupational Health and Safety. Www.Ehsinsight.Com. https://www.ehsinsight.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-occupational-health-and-safety

Steel, J., Godderis, L., & Luyten, J. (2018). Productivity estimation in economic evaluations of occupational health and safety interventions: a systematic review. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health44(5), 458-474.

Yesilgul, G., Cicek, H. S., Avci, M. Z., & Huseyniklioglu, B. (2018). Nurses’ knowledge levels and perceptions regarding occupational risks and hazards. International Journal of Caring Sciences11(2), 1117.

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