Reduction in injury rates in nursing personnel through introduction of mechanical lifts in the workplace

BACKGROUND: Health care workers incur frequent injuries resulting from patient transfer and handling tasks. Few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of mechanical lifts in preventing injuries and time loss due to these injuries. METHODS: We examined injury and lost workday rates before and after the introduction of mechanical lifts in acute care hospitals and long-term care (LTC) facilities, and surveyed workers regarding lift use. RESULTS: The post-intervention period showed decreased rates of musculoskeletal injuries (RR = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.68-1.00), lost workday injuries (RR = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.41-0.78), and total lost days due to injury (RR = 0.42). Larger reductions were seen in LTC facilities than in hospitals. Self-reported frequency of lift use by registered nurses and by nursing aides were higher in the LTC facilities than in acute care hospitals. Observed reductions in injury and lost day injury rates were greater on nursing units that reported greater use of the lifts. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of patient lifts can be effective in reducing occupational musculoskeletal injuries to nursing personnel in both LTC and acute care settings. Strategies to facilitate greater use of mechanical lifting devices should be explored, as further reductions in injuries may be possible with increased use.     

江门市中小学生伤害干预措施的综合评价

目的：探讨建立预防和控制中小学生伤害发生的措施和对措施效果进行评价。方法：采取干预前后对比和无干预对照的方式进行评价。干预组为１９９８年开展伤害调查的原９所中小学校３８９６名学生,实施以健康教育为主的综合干预措施;对照组为同期进行伤害调查的４所无干预措施的小学６５１名学生。１年生２组均重复进行伤害调查,观察干预措施对伤害发生的影响并对其应用价值进行评价。结果：干预组伤害发生率由５０．５５％降至１１     

Prevention of work related eye injuries: long term assessment of the effectiveness of a multicomponent intervention among metal workers

Background: Systematic assessments of the effectiveness of interventions to prevent work related eye injuries are needed. Aim: To investigate the long term effectiveness of a multicomponent prevention campaign. Methods: The campaign (conducted in collaboration with the local Employers'' Association and Trade Unions) targeted all 237 metal-ware factories in the district of Imola, Italy. Based on preliminary inspections, the main intervention included distribution to all factories of specific educational brochures and broadcasting/publication of television/radio programmes and local newspaper articles containing expert advice on the subject. This was followed by a four year "post-intervention reinforcement" period of unannounced official inspections. Main outcome measures analysed were eye injury rates (versus non-eye injury rates) among metal workers during "pre-intervention" (1988–90), "peri-intervention" (1991–92), "post-intervention reinforcement" (1993–96), "late post-intervention" (1997–2000), and "very late post-intervention" (2001–03) periods with respect to two comparison sectors (construction and wood/ceramics). Results: A Poisson regression in which the eye injury rates were modelled for each sector, period, and interaction, adjusting for non-eye injury rates, was chosen. The periods did not by themselves determine an overall reduction in eye injuries. The period/sector interaction terms were related to significant reductions for the metal sector when crossed with the "post-intervention reinforcement" (IRR = 0.77, 95% CI 0.61 to 0.97; % decline = 23.4), the "late post-intervention" (IRR = 0.63, 95% CI 0.50 to 0.79; % decline = 37.4), and the "very late post-intervention" (IRR = 0.58, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.77; % decline = 42.4) periods, suggesting a sustained reduction in eye injury risk following the main intervention. Conclusion: Results suggest that a carefully coordinated, extensive, multicomponent intervention can lead to lasting reductions in the burden of eye injuries.     

Effects of a participatory ergonomics team among hospital orderlies

BACKGROUND: High rates of work-related injuries are seen among health care workers involved in lifting and transferring patients. We studied the effects of a participatory worker-management ergonomics team among hospital orderlies. METHODS: This prospective intervention trial examined work injuries and other outcomes before and after the intervention, with other hospital employees used as a concurrent control. All orderlies in a 1,200-bed urban hospital were studied using passively collected data (mean employment during study period 100-110 orderlies); 67 orderlies (preintervention) and 88 orderlies (postintervention) also completed a questionnaire. The intervention was the formation of a participatory ergonomics team with three orderlies, one supervisor, and technical advisors. This team designed and implemented changes in training and work practices. RESULTS: The 2-year postintervention period was marked by decreased risks of work injury (RR = 0.50, 95% CI 0.35-0.72), lost time injury (RR = 0.26, 95% CI 0.14-0.48), and injury with three or more days of time loss (RR = 0.19, 95% CI 0.07-0.53). Total lost days declined from 136.2 to 23.0 annually per 100 full-time worker equivalents (FTE). Annual workers' compensation costs declined from $237/FTE to $139/FTE. The proportion of workers with musculoskeletal symptoms declined and there were statistically significant improvements in job satisfaction, perceived psychosocial stressors, and social support among the orderlies. CONCLUSION: Substantial improvements in health and safety were seen following implementation of a participatory ergonomics program.     

Occupational injury among cooks and food service workers in the healthcare sector

BACKGROUND: Incidence of occupational injury is anticipated to be high among cooks and food service workers (CFSWs) because of the nature of their work and the types of raw and finished materials that they handle. METHOD: Incidents of occupational injury, resulting in lost time or medical care over a period of 1 year in two health regions were extracted from a standardized operational database and with person years obtained from payroll data, detailed analysis was conducted using Poisson regression modeling. RESULTS: Among the CFSWs the annual injury rate was 38.1 per 100 person years. The risk of contusions [RR, 95% CI 9.66 (1.04, 89.72)], burns [1.79 (1.39, 2.31)], and irritations or allergies [3.84 (2.05, 7.18)] was found to be significantly higher in acute care facilities compared to long-term care facilities. Lower risk was found among older workers for irritations or allergies. Female CFSWs, compared to their male counterparts, were respectively 8 and 20 times more likely to report irritations or allergies and contusions. In respect to outcome, almost all irritations or allergies required medical visits. For MSI incidents, about 67.4% resulted in time-loss from work. CONCLUSIONS: Prevention policies should be developed to reduce the hazards present in the workplace to promote safer work practices for cooks and food service workers.     

南宁城市社区居民伤害干预效果的评价

目的评价南宁城市社区居民伤害预防干预效果,为城市居民社区伤害的干预研究提供科学的依据。方法根据世界卫生组织（world health organization,WHO）推荐的社区调查方案,采用多阶段随机抽样的方法在广西南宁市抽取被调查社区,并通过问卷调查的方法来获得干预前后的资料。干预过程主要采取了以健康教育为主的综合干预措施。结果干预后伤害发生率由28.34%降至14.06%,下降50.39%,干预前后发生率差异有统计学意义（2=32.04,P〈0.001）;多发性伤害发生率则由3.74%降至0.00%,干预前后发生率差异有统计学意义（2=19.28,P〈0.001）;伤害知识知晓率、正确认知比例分别由干预前的55.27%、71.60%上升至干预后的86.76%、89.52%,危险行为发生率也由干预前的57.79%降至干预后的33.12%,三者差异均有统计学意义（均有P〈0.05）。结论以社区为基础的伤害干预,能提高社区居民伤害安全知识水平,有利于培养正确的态度和建立健康的行为,从而有效的降低伤害的发生率,是预防伤害的有效途径。     

Differences in percutaneous injury patterns in a multi-hospital system.

OBJECTIVE: Determine differences in patterns of percutaneous injuries (PIs) in different types of hospitals. DESIGN: Case series of injuries occurring from 1997 to 2001. SETTING: Large midwestern healthcare system with a consolidated occupational health database from 9 hospitals, including rural and urban, community and teaching (1 pediatric, 1 adult) facilities, ranging from 113 to 1,400 beds. PARTICIPANTS: Healthcare workers injured between 1997 and 2001. RESULTS: Annual injury rates for all hospitals decreased during the study period from 21 to 16.5/100 beds (chi-square for trend = 22.7; P = .0001). Average annual injury rates were higher at larger hospitals (22.5 vs 9.5 PIs/100 beds; P = .0001). Among small hospitals, rural hospitals had higher rates than did urban hospitals (14.87 vs 8.02 PIs/100 beds; P = .0143). At small hospitals, an increased proportion of injuries occurred in the emergency department (13.7% vs 8.6%; P = .0004), operating room (32.3% vs 25.4%; P = .0002), and ICU (12.3% vs 9.4%; P = .0225), compared with large hospitals. Rural hospitals had higher injury rates in the radiology department (7.7% vs 2%; P = .0015) versus urban hospitals. Injuries at the teaching hospitals occurred more commonly on the wards (28.8% vs 24%; P = .0021) and in ICUs (11.4% vs 7.8%; P = .0006) than at community hospitals. Injuries involving butterfly needles were more common at pediatric versus adult hospitals (15.8% vs 6.5%; P = .0001). The prevalence of source patients infected with HIV and hepatitis C was higher at large hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: Significant differences exist in injury rates and patterns among different types of hospitals. These data can be used to target intervention strategies.     

广东省13家医院医护人员严重急性呼吸综合征医院内感染情况

目的　分析收治严重急性呼吸综合征 (SARS)患者重点医院医护人员发生SARS院内感染的因素 ,评价干预措施。方法　通过对 13家重点医院收治SARS患者的数量及病情、医护人员SARS的发病率、医院性质、病区 (科室 )环境及隔离措施调查 ,分析医护人员发生SARS院内感染的原因。结果　 13家医院共收治SARS患者 84 1例 ,参加诊治工作的 2 36 5名医护人员中 2 85人发病。综合性医院、收治危重患者较多的医院、医护人员个人防护不到位的医院医护人员发病率较高 (93/2 85 ,32 .6 3% ) ;独立病房收治SARS患者的医院、具有感染科或隔离病区 (包括临时开设的隔离病区 )的医院医护人员发病率较低。结论　收治SARS患者的病情、医院性质、病区 (科室 )环境、个人防护状况是医护人员感染SARS的危险因素     

The WHO safe community program for injury prevention: evaluation of the impact on injury severity

Despite the fact that injuries consume a considerable amount of health care resources world-wide, 3.5 million people die from unintentional injuries each year. To handle this central public health problem, WHO has introduced the Safe Community accreditation for injury prevention programs. This study was to investigate the impact from a Safe Community program with regard to injury severity. Data were collected in Motala municipality (population = 41 000), Östergötland county, Sweden, during one year before and one year after program intervention, from two sources: registration of trivial (AIS 1) and non-trivial (AIS 2–6) unintentional injuries from all acute care episodes in the area and recollection of hospital bed days from discharge registers. The incidence of non-trivial injuries treated in health care was found to have decreased by 41% (95% confidence interval, 37–45%), while the trivial injuries increased by 16% (9–22%). The larger decrease of non-trivial injuries was observed in all ages and injury event environments. The total number of bed days at emergency hospitals due to injuries decreased by 39% (37–41%) from 1983–84 to 1989, while the hospital bed utilization for other reasons decreased by 9% (8–9%). The study showed that implementation of a WHO Safe Community program led to the harm from unintentional injuries within the community being considerably more reduced than that of the injury incidence. In future assessments of injury prevention programs, classification of injury severity should be included to increase the validity of inter-program comparisons.     

Impact of an alcohol misuse intervention for health care workers --2: Employee assistance programme utilization,on-the-job injuries,job loss and health services utilization

AIMS: We evaluated the effects of an enhanced substance misuse (SM) prevention/early intervention programme on referrals to an employee assistance programme, health care utilization rates, on-the-job injury rates and job termination rates among health care professionals employed in a managed care organization. METHODS: The intervention was implemented at one site, with the remaining sites serving as the comparison group. Existing data from hospital databases were used to compare events occurring in the periods before and after initiation of the intervention. To account for baseline differences in age, gender and job class, logistic regression models produced adjusted means for events per employee month-at-risk. RESULTS: We found that employee assistance referrals and non-SM-related in-patient hospitalizations increased significantly post-intervention, while rates of total out-patient SM-related visits decreased at both the intervention and comparison sites post-intervention. There was a small, statistically significant decrease in the monthly rate (OR = 0.92) of non-SM out-patient utilization at the intervention site, once the intervention was in place. No differences potentially attributable to the intervention were detected in job turnover or injury rates. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that, while the intervention did not appear to affect health care utilization for SM-related problems, it was associated with increased referrals for employee assistance.     

Community-based injury prevention: effects on health care utilization.

BACKGROUND: Worldwide, an estimated 78 million people are disabled each year because of unintentional injuries and about 3 million die. The WHO Safe Community model is a framework for community-based injury prevention programmes. The aim of this study is to evaluate the outcome on health care utilization of a Safe Community programme. METHODS: The incidence of injuries treated at health care facilities in an intervention municipality (pop. 41,000) was compared to the injury incidence in a control municipality (pop. 26,000). The incidence was recorded immediately before and one year after programme implementation from registrations made during all first-contact health care visits and from examination of hospital discharge registers. RESULTS: The incidence of health care treated injuries in the intervention area had decreased by 13% (95% CI: 9-16%) from 119 (95% CI: 115-122) per 1000 population-years to 104 (95% CI: 101-107). In the control area, the corresponding injury incidences were 104 (95% CI: 100-108) and 106 (95% CI: 102-109). The hospital-treated injuries in the intervention area decreased by 15% (95% CI: 7-24%) from 19 (95% CI: 17-20) per 1000 population-years to 16 (95% CI: 15-17), while in the control area, the incidences remained at 13 (95% CI: 11-14) per 1000 population-years. Utilization of acute care in the intervention area for reasons other than injuries increased by 8% (95% CI: 6-10%), while in the control area, the number of visits did not show significant change. CONCLUSION: This first controlled evaluation showed that an injury prevention programme based on local action groups can significantly reduce injuries requiring health care in a community. Local prevention can provide a complement to national level campaigns.     

2006-2009年深圳市宝安区伤害流行病学特征分析

目的探讨深圳市宝安区伤害流行特征,为开展伤害预防干预提供依据。方法以2006--2009年到深圳市3家伤害监测哨点医院之一的宝安区某街道医院急诊科就诊的伤害患者为研究对象,调查患者的年龄、性别、职业和伤害类型、原因、发生地点以及伤害发生时的活动。结果2006--2008年伤害病例数呈逐年上升趋势,而2009年比2008年下降14．6％。2006--2009年伤害病例人次数男、女之比分别为3．43、3．37、3．33和3．43。伤害发生主要以生产运输设备操作人员及有关人员为主,有51198例,占总例数的70．12％。结论深圳宝安区伤害以工人的职业伤害为主,职业伤害成为一个严重的公共卫生问题,是当前宝安区预防伤害优先干预的领域。     

Hospital bloodborne pathogens programs: program characteristics and blood and body fluid exposure rates.

OBJECTIVE: To describe hospital practices and policies relating to bloodborne pathogens and current rates of occupational exposure among healthcare workers. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: Hospitals in Iowa and Virginia were surveyed in 1996 and 1997 about Standard Precautions training programs and compliance. The primary outcome measures were rates of percutaneous injuries and mucocutaneous exposures. RESULTS: 153 (64%) of 240 hospitals responded. New employee training was offered no more than twice per year by nearly one third. Most (79%-80%) facilities monitored compliance of nurses, housekeepers, and laboratory technicians; physicians rarely were trained or monitored. Implementation of needlestick prevention devices was the most common action taken to decrease sharps injuries. Over one half of hospitals used needleless intravenous systems; larger hospitals used these significantly more often. Protected devices for phlebotomy or intravenous placement were purchased by only one third. Most (89% of large and 80% of small) hospitals met the recommended infection control personnel-to-bed ratio of 1:250. Eleven percent did not have access to postexposure care during all working hours. Percutaneous injury surveillance relied on incident reports (99% of facilities) and employee health records (61%). The annual reported percutaneous injury incidence rate from 106 hospitals was 5.3 injuries per 100 personnel. Compared to single tertiary-referral institution rates determined more than 5 years previously, current injury rates remain elevated in community hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: Healthcare institutions need to commit sufficient resources to Standard Precautions training and monitoring and to infection control programs to meet the needs of all workers, including physicians. Healthcare workers clearly remain at risk for injury. Further effective interventions are needed for employee training, improving adherence, and providing needlestick prevention devices.     

Work organization and musculoskeletal injuries among a cohort of health care workers

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the relationship between work-organization factors (job control, job demands, and workload measures) and the risk of lower-body musculoskeletal injury among health care workers. METHODS: A four-year, retrospective cohort study of 3769 health care workers was carried out in one acute care hospital in the Canadian province of British Columbia. A job-exposure matrix was constructed for the work-organization factors from survey and administrative data and assigned to workers on the basis of their occupation and department of employment. Musculoskeletal injuries resulting in workers' compensation claims were ascertained from the injury database of the hospital's Occupational Health and Safety Department. RESULTS: In the final Poisson models adjusted for demographic and biomechanical factors, an increased risk for compensated musculoskeletal injuries of the lower back and lower limb was related to low job control [relative risk (RR) 1.64, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.08-2.49] and workload defined by working during periods of high absenteeism within a department (RR 2.10, 95% CI 1.61-2.98). The risk also increased with more biomechanical demands in an occupation and with a recent previous injury. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that work-organization characteristics (job control and workload) were associated with an increased risk of musculoskeletal injuries resulting in a compensation claim. These associations remained after the effect of demographic and biomechanical factors was taken into consideration. The association with workload measured by departmental levels of absenteeism should be explored further in future studies as reverse causality (musculoskeletal symptoms resulting in absenteeism) could not be fully ruled out in the current study.     

Increased risk of agricultural injury among African-American farm workers from Alabama and Mississippi

Research on the epidemiology of agriculture-related injuries has largely ignored African-Americans and farm workers. This cohort study is the first to estimate injury rates and to evaluate prospectively risk factors for agriculture-related injuries and compare them among African-American and Caucasian farmers and African-American farm workers. A total of 1,246 subjects (685 Caucasian owners, 321 African-American owners, and 240 African-American workers) from Alabama and Mississippi were selected from Agricultural Statistics Services databases and other sources and were enrolled between January 1994 and June 1996. Baseline data included detailed demographic, farm and farming, and behavioral information. From January 1994 to April 1998, subjects were contacted biannually to ascertain the occurrence of an agriculture-related injury. Injury rates were 2.9 times (95% confidence interval (CI): 2.0, 4.3) higher for African-American farm workers compared with Caucasian and African-American owners. Part-time farming (relative risk (RR) = 2.0, 95% CI: 1.3, 2.5), prior agricultural injury (RR = 1.5, 95% CI: 1.0, 2.1), and farm machinery in fair/poor condition (RR = 1.8, 95% CI: 1.2, 2.7) were also independently associated with injury rates. The results demonstrate the increased frequency of agricultural injury among farm workers and identify a number of possible ways of reducing them.     

Impact of social standing on injury prevention in a World Health Organization Safe Community--intervention outcome by household employment contract

BACKGROUND: Although social inequality in health has been an argument for community-based injury prevention programmes, intervention outcomes with regard to differences in social standing have not been analysed. The objective of this study was to investigate rates of injuries treated in health-care among members of households at different levels of labour market integration before and after the implementation of a WHO Safe Community programme. METHODS: A quasi-experimental design was used with pre- and post-implementation data collection covering the total populations <65 years of age during one year in the programme implementation municipality (population 41 000) and in a control municipality (population 26 000). Changes in injury rates were studied using prospective registration of all acute care episodes with regard to social standing in both areas during the study periods. RESULTS: Male members of households categorized as not vocationally active displayed the highest pre-intervention injury rates. Also after the intervention, males in households classified as not vocationally active displayed notably elevated injury rates in both the control and study areas. Households in the study area in which the significant member was employed showed a post-intervention decrease in injury rate among both men (P < 0.001) and women (P < 0.01). No statistically significant change was observed in households in which the significant member was self-employed or not vocationally active. In the control area, only an aggregate-level decrease (P < 0.05) among members of households in which the significant member was employed was observed. CONCLUSIONS: The study displayed areas for improvement in the civic network-based WHO Safe Community model. Even though members of non-vocationally active households, in particular men, were at higher pre-intervention injury risk, they were not affected by the interventions. This fact has to be addressed when planning future community-based injury prevention programmes.     

Establishing smoke-free hospitals in Vietnam: A pilot project

In Vietnam, a pilot ‘smoke-free hospital’ model was implemented in nine hospitals in 2009–2010 to supply lessons learned that would facilitate a replication of this model elsewhere. This study aimed to assess smoking patterns among health professionals and to detect levels of second-hand smoke (SHS) exposure within hospital premises before and after the ‘smoke-free hospital’ model implementation. A pre- and post-intervention cross-sectional study was conducted in nine purposively selected hospitals. Air nicotine levels were measured using passive nicotine monitors; smoking evidence was collected through on-site observations; and smoking patterns were assessed through interviews with health workers. Despite the ‘smoke-free hospital’ intervention, smoking continued among health-care workers who were former smokers. Specifically, self-reported smoking prevalence significantly decreased post-intervention, but the number of daily cigarettes smoked at workplaces among male health workers remained unchanged. Post-intervention, smoking was more likely to take place outside buildings and cafeterias. However, air nicotine levels in the doctors' lounges and in emergency departments did not change post-intervention. Air nicotine levels at other sites decreased minimally. Tailored tobacco cessation programmes, targeting current smokers and mechanisms to enforce non-smoking, should be established to meet requirements of Vietnam's comprehensive National Tobacco Control Law effective in May 2013.     

参与式培训预防工人工伤和肌肉骨骼系统疾病效果的随机对照研究

目的 研究参与式培训对预防工人工伤和肌肉骨骼系统疾病(MSD)的效果。 方法 随机选取30家企业1 825名工人,其中918名干预组工人接受参与式培训,907名对照组工人接受授课式培训,比较两组培训前1年、培训后1年男女工人工伤发生率和MSD发生率的变化,从而评估培训效果。 结果 培训后1年随访率为59.1%。干预组培训后的工伤发生率(5.0%)低于培训前的发生率(8.9%),两者差异有统计学意义(P<0.01);培训后,干预组男性工人工伤发生率从11.3%降至5.5%,差异有统计学意义(P<0.01)。女性工人工伤发生率在培训前后差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。培训1年后,干预组和对照组男女工人MSD发生率差异均无统计学意义(P>0.05)。 结论 参与式培训比授课式培训能更有效地降低男性工人工伤发生率,但两种培训方式均不能有效降低MSD和女性工人工伤的发生率。     

Change and 1-year maintenance of nutrient and food group intakes at a 12-week worksite dietary intervention trial for men at high risk of coronary heart disease

We examined how dietary habits (i.e., intake of nutrients and food groups) were changed by intervention and how once adopted diets were maintained thereafter using the data of a 12-wk worksite dietary intervention trial for men at high risk of coronary heart disease (i.e., hypercholesterolemia, hyperglycemia, and/or overweight). Dietary habits were assessed pre- and post-intervention and 1 y follow-up points using a self-administered diet history questionnaire. The intervention method was a brief individual counseling based on the results of a pre-intervention assessment and a weekly distribution of newsletters. At the pre- and post-intervention points, a control group selected from the workers was used for comparison. The Keys score, and the changes in intake of saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acid, total fat, and cholesterol (the decrease), as well as dietary fiber, potassium, calcium, and iron (the increase) were significantly different between the intervention (n = 63) and control (n = 123) groups (p < 0.05). The changes were almost maintained with little recidivism at the 1 y follow-up point in the intervention group (i.e., for the decrease in SFA and Keys score, p < 0.001). The decrease in serum cholesterol level expected from the change in Keys score and body weight, taking possible regression to the mean into consideration, was almost identical to and slightly greater than (18%) those observed at the post-intervention and 1 y follow-up points, respectively. The results suggest that the favorable changes in dietary habits adopted during an intervention period were almost maintained for the subsequent 1 y period.     

口腔医院护工锐器伤现况调查

摘要:目的　了解口腔医院护工锐器伤的发生情况,为制定口腔医院护工锐器伤规范化防护措施提供理论依据。方法　采用卫生部设计的《医务人员锐器伤筛查表》,对某院55名护工人员对过去1个月中锐器损伤的发生情况进行问卷调查。结果　护工锐器伤发生率为21.8%（12/55）,发生密度为 0.47次/（人.月）;年限≤1年的护工锐器伤发生率最高,为61.1%;接受过培训的护工锐器损伤发生率（18.5%）明显低于未培训的护士（39.3%）。结论　口腔医院护工是锐器伤发生的高危人群,通过针对性预防和干预,可有效地降低锐器伤发生率。