Abstract
BackgroundAn anesthesiologists’ work presents with numerous occupational risks owing to the large amount of time spent inside the operating room where constant noise, anesthetic vapors, ionizing radiation, infectious agents, and psychological stress are present. Herein, we evaluated anesthesiologists’ knowledge about occupational health.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted to assess 158 anesthesiologists from a tertiary hospital on their knowledge about occupational health using a structured questionnaire.ResultsThe survey revealed a lack of knowledge on the forms of prevention of occupational accidents (74.6% did not know how to act in case of a fire during surgery, 56% failed to identify the post-anesthesia care unit as the place with the highest contamination by inhalation anesthetics, and 42.7% failed to identify all personal protective equipment) and a surprisingly high rate of lack of observance of preventive measures (30.3% washed their hands before touching every patient, 52.5% did not use gloves during intravenous access, and 88.6% used protective equipment against ionizing radiation).ConclusionsDespite improvements in safety standards in healthcare facilities, our research showed lack of knowledge about major topics on occupational health by physicians. Improving safety awareness is an important goal of training programs and continued medical education.
Highlights
An anesthesiologists’ work presents with numerous occupational risks owing to the large amount of time spent inside the operating room where constant noise, anesthetic vapors, ionizing radiation, infectious agents, and psychological stress are present
Anesthesiology is associated with risks because the professional practice mainly occurs within the operating room, where there is continuous noise pollution, chemical fumes, ionizing radiation, infectious agents, and high psychological stress level exposures
On overall evaluation of the questionnaire responses, four questions had > 50% correct responses, four questions had 35–50% correct responses, and three questions had < 35% correct responses
Summary
An anesthesiologists’ work presents with numerous occupational risks owing to the large amount of time spent inside the operating room where constant noise, anesthetic vapors, ionizing radiation, infectious agents, and psychological stress are present. Anesthesiology is associated with risks because the professional practice mainly occurs within the operating room, where there is continuous noise pollution, chemical fumes, ionizing radiation, infectious agents, and high psychological stress level exposures. We found studies that outlined the profile of anesthesiologists and their quality of life [9, 10] as well as research evaluating physical and psychological consequences of exposure to risks inherent to working in the operating room environment [11, 12]. We found no studies on the anesthesiologist’s knowledge of risks involved in professional practice
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