Occupational Risk Factors among Primary Health Care Workers in Mersin, Turkey

Abstract

Objective: The current study aims to identify the occupational health risks faced by primary health care workers in Mersin city center. Material and Methods: Data were collected between June-July 2009. The target population of this cross-sectional study was 807 health workers serving in the primary health care centers in Mersin city center and related villages. No sampling was carried out; this study aimed to reach all of the health care centers and health care workers in the city center and surroundings. The consent of the ethics committee and the consent of the participants were obtained after informing them about the study. Six hundred sixty six (82.5%) of the workers were reached and agreed to participate in this survey. The workers filled out the forms by themselves. The health risks faced by the health workers within the past year were accepted as the dependent variables. It was compared with independent variables such as the workplace risks, location of the workplace in the urban or suburban regions, occupation group, and sex. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data while Chi-square test was employed to compare categorical variables. Results: 40.7% of the health care workers were working as midwifes and 73.0% were females; 87.2% of them had experienced at least one health risk within the past year. The most frequent health risks faced by the health workers were physical-ergonomic (78.8%), biological (56.8%), psychological (54.4%) and chemical (18.0%) risks. Ninety one percent of them believed that their life was not in safe in the workplace. The rate of physical-ergonomic risks were higher in doctors, in midwifes, and in non-married participants, the biological risks were higher in female health care workers, doctors, in non-married workers; the psychological risks were in non-married participants while the chemical risks were higher for those working in suburban areas. All of the risks were at a higher level among those participants who thought that their workplace was not safe. It was also understood that experiencing psychological risks decreased despite the increase in work period. Conclusion: Primary health care workers face many health risks in the workplace. © 2011 by Türkiye Klinikleri.