الفهرس 
Occupational InfectionsOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 153 |  |  |
| | | from | 153 | | |
Abstract
H
ealthcare workers are highly subjected to acquiring or transmitting infections during their daily activities that includes being in contact with patients, body fluids, or specimens. An Employee health program is an essential and cornerstone element in efforts to provide a safe environment for patients and healthcare personnel. The infection control objectives of the program should be an integral part of a health care organization’s general program for infection control.
The insufficiency of implementation of the important elements of the program in the developing countries poses a huge risk of infection transmission to the Healthcare workers, as well as the patients. In addition to, the high costs that the hospital facility will face for the control of outbreaks, diagnosis and treatment of the infected staff and patients.
This study was conducted to assess the extent of implementation of the cardinal elements of the employee health program according to the CDC Guidelines for Infection Control in Hospital Personnel to prevent occupational infections in the Pediatrics Ain Shams University hospital, and to find the weakness points in the current applied system.
Elements of the Employee Wellness Program for infection control were assessed by a self-aided questionnaire for 110 participants that was divided into several sections. Section I included questions about Socio demographic characteristics of the participants. II: Pre-employment medical screening procedures for healthcare workers. Section III: Health education and safety training provided to healthcare workers. Section IV: Occupational infection prevention and control among HCWs. Section V: Vaccination history against vaccine preventable diseases
The majority of the study participants were females (78.2%).
Regarding the pre-employment medical screening procedures, just below half of the participants (48.2%) had the screening done. Only 30% of them had been asked about their history of infectious diseases. Only 3.6% of the participants provided the hospital with a proof of their immunity to infectious diseases.
Regarding the investigations requested by the hospital, the test that was mostly requested was the urine analysis test in which 40.9 %. Other investigations as blood tests, viral markers and stool analysis were done by minority of the HCWs.
Regarding the vaccinations’ uptake, the most received vaccine by different job categories of health care workers is the Hepatitis B vaccine (86.4%), out of which 67.4% completed the three recommended doses.
Seasonal flu vaccination rate was considerably low, in which only 20% of the participants received the flu vaccine last season. The MMR, varicella, DTaP vaccination coverage rates were low as well 12.7%, 9.1%, and 7.3%.
Regarding Post exposure management, our data revealed that only 64.7% of them reported their needle stick injury to the infection control department. No tests or viral markers for confirmation of serological status of source patients were done in 93.2% of the reported cases to the infection control department. Only 47.7% of exposed HCWs in our study confirmed their final serology status in the clinic after exposure. Only 36.4% of the injured workers who reported their injury received a scheduled follow-up for further assessment.
Regarding infection control education and training, the majority of HCWs (85.5%) received a job specific training for infection control upon hire in the hospital, while 12.7% never received health and safety education either in the hospital or any other source. Well beyond half of the participants (40.4%) received annual training. Most of the HCWs were satisfied with the trainings.
Regarding work restrictions for infected HCWs, the guidelines are not applied to the majority of diseases, in which 85.5 %, 81.8%, and 80% of the HCWs stated that there are no restrictions in case of being infected with severe acute diarrhea, conjunctivitis, and respiratory tract infection respectively.
Recommendations include activation of the role of the occupational health unit, and co-ordination with the infection control department in order to properly apply the major elements of the employee wellness program to protect the healthcare workers from acquiring occupational infections