Perceptions of personal health risks by medical and non-medical workers in a university medical center: a survey study

Tita Alissa Listyowardojo,Raoul E Nap,Addie Johnson

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-10-681

Tita Alissa Listyowardojo, Raoul E Nap + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-681

Copy DOI

Abstract

BackgroundHealth care workers (HCWs) are faced with many work-related choices which may depend on how they perceive risk, such as whether or not to comply with safety regulations. Little research has investigated risk perception in medical workers in comparison with non-medical workers and the extent to which risk perception differs in these groups. The current study thus investigates risk perception of medical and non-medical workers to inform and complement future research on safety compliance. The study has implications for the design of intervention programmes to increase the level of compliance of HCWs.MethodsA survey study was conducted in which questionnaires were distributed to 6380 HCWs. The questionnaire asked for ratings of risk perception for cold, annual influenza, pandemic influenza, cancer, heart attack and food poisoning. Of 2495 returned questionnaires (response rate: 39%), 61.40% were from medical workers (24.1% of these were from physicians, 39.7% from nurses and 36.2% from paramedics) and 38.60% were from non-medical workers.ResultsMedical workers gave lower risk perception ratings than did non-medical workers for cancer, but not for other health risks. Within the medical workers, physicians rated the risk of getting a cold as higher, but of having a heart attack as lower than did nurses and paramedics; physicians also rated their risk of getting cancer as lower than did nurses. Perceived risk was higher as a function of age for pandemic influenza, cancer and heart attack, but lower for cold and annual influenza. HCWs who lived with a partner and children rated the risk of getting a cold or annual influenza higher than those who lived alone or with a partner only. Full-time HCWs gave lower ratings for annual influenza than did part-time HCWs.ConclusionsDifferent base levels of risk perception between medical and non-medical workers need to be taken into account for successful implementation of safety regulations.Intervention programmes to improve compliance with safety regulations may need to be customized for different groups as a function of how they perceive risk.

Highlights

Health care workers (HCWs) are faced with many work-related choices which may depend on how they perceive risk, such as whether or not to comply with safety regulations
Participants Stratified sampling across professional groups was used to select medical and non-medical workers of the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), the Netherlands, for invitation to participate in the study
One-way ANOVA conducted on age with role as a between-subject factor revealed a main effect of role (F(2, 1526) = 14.19, p < .001; see Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Health care workers (HCWs) are faced with many work-related choices which may depend on how they perceive risk, such as whether or not to comply with safety regulations. Compared to non-medical workers who have limited contact with infected patients, medical workers are exposed to various occupational health hazards which can result in serious long-term adverse health outcomes [1,2,3]. This makes participate in a pre-pandemic influenza vaccination programme than those who perceive their risk as lower [9]. This is a concern because if people are unrealistically optimistic about their health, they will tend to feel less susceptible to diseases and be less likely to change their behaviour to reduce risks by [14], for example, complying with safety regulations

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion