Occupational health and safety hazards faced by healthcare professionals in Taiwan: A systematic review of risk factors and control strategies

Abstract

Background: Healthcare professionals in Taiwan are exposed to a myriad of occupational health and safety hazards, including physical, biological, chemical, ergonomic, and psychosocial hazards. Healthcare professionals working in hospitals and healthcare facilities are more likely to be subjected to these hazards than their counterparts working in other areas. Objectives: This review aims to assess current research literature regarding this situation with a view to informing policy makers and practitioners about the risks of exposure and offer evidence-based recommendations on how to eliminate or reduce such risks. Methods: Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses review strategy, we conducted a systematic review of studies related to occupational health and safety conducted between January 2000 and January 2019 using MEDLINE (Ovid), PubMed, PMC, TOXLINE, CINAHL, PLOS One, and Access Pharmacy databases. Results: The review detected 490 studies addressing the issue of occupational health and safety hazards; of these, 30 articles were included in this systematic review. These articles reported a variety of exposures faced by healthcare professionals. This review also revealed a number of strategies that can be adopted to control, eliminate, or reduce hazards to healthcare professionals in Taiwan. Conclusion: Hospitals and healthcare facilities have many unique occupational health and safety hazards that can potentially affect the health and performance of healthcare professionals. The impact of such hazards on healthcare professionals poses a serious public health issue in Taiwan; therefore, controlling, eliminating, or reducing exposure can contribute to a stronger healthcare workforce with great potential to improve patient care and the healthcare system in Taiwan. Eliminating or reducing hazards can best be achieved through engineering measures, administrative policy, and the use of personal protective equipment. Implications: This review has research, policy, and practice implications and provides future students and researchers with information on systematic review methodologies based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses strategy. It also identifies occupational health and safety risks and provides insights and strategies to address them.

Population-Based Study on Cancer Incidence in Pharmacist: A Cohort Study in Taiwan

“…A possible factor and mechanism for the higher rate of prostate and breast cancer in male and female pharmacists is work-related exposure to carcinogens and the practice of pharmacy itself, which includes long-working hours and working on the feet. The present study showed that the workplace is an important factor that exposes employees to several important occupational cancers, an insight that is also supported in the literature [ 3 ]. The study showed that pharmacists are constantly exposed to a complex variety of occupational risks in the course of their work, an observation also made in the literature [ 1 ].…”

“…Occupational risks in clinical and non-clinical practitioners can vary depending on their specific profession, the nature of their work and their workplace type and environment [ 2 ]. As highlighted by Che Huei et al [ 3 ] and Lombardo and Roussel [ 4 ], employees in hospital settings are exposed to physical hazards such as radiation; psychological hazards such as shift work; biological hazards such as bacterial or viral infections; and chemical hazards such as antineoplastic drugs.…”

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding Ergonomic Hazards Among Healthcare Workers in a Saudi Government Hospital

“…24–26 These occupational ergonomic hazards at hospitals include the design of the workplace and workstation, working in awkward positions, and repetitive procedures. 9 , 27 Program administrators should consider a job’s characteristics and required physical tasks to provide important intervention opportunities for preventing work-related MSDs among the staff. A behavioral preventive model should be applied.…”

The Effect of Work Safety on Organizational Social Sustainability Improvement in the Healthcare Sector: The Case of a Public Sector Hospital in Pakistan

“…Healthcare work settings are more complex and healthcare workers, apart from other job-related issues that are common across organizations, are prone to health-related issues [ 18 ]. Hospitals’ environments contain health hazards including ergonomic, chemical, biological, and physical hazards that add to work-related difficulties [ 22 ]. Employees, as such, expect job safety, coworker safety, supervisor safety, management safety practices, and safety programs to be in place in their work environment [ 23 ].…”