Stress among Emergency Health Care Workers on Nuclear or Radiation Disaster: A Preliminary State Survey

Abstract

Background: The nuclear or radiation disaster risk within the French Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes state is low (but not absent) due to its proximity to four Nuclear Power Generation Centers and two regional cancer control centers. This study aims to compare subjective stress ratings for emergency health care workers regarding nuclear and radiation disasters between two locations: at work versus at home. Materials and Methods: We distributed an anonymous online questionnaire via RedCap® to all emergency health care workers who could be involved in patient care after a nuclear or radiation disaster. It comprised 18 questions divided into three parts—theoretical knowledge and practical assessment, stress assessment, and sociodemographic criteria. Results: We analyzed 107 responses. There was a significant 11-point increase in stress levels between work and home regarding nuclear or radiation disaster risks (p = 0.01). Less than 25% of emergency health care workers surveyed benefited from annual training. Conclusion: The stress levels of emergency health care workers regarding nuclear or radiation disaster were higher at work than at home and increased without annual training. It is important to increase knowledge about these protocols and to mandate yearly training for all workers potentially involved in these disasters.

The Negative Impact of Night Shifts on Diet in Emergency Healthcare Workers

“…Exclusion criteria were refusal to participate and pregnancy. This study is part of the SEEK protocol [20,22]. We obtained the ethical approval from Ethics Committee South-East I (DC-2014-2151) and the protocol was registered on ClinicalTrials.…”

“…Indeed, emergency departments (ED) are open 24 h a day, 365 days a year. Furthermore, emergency HCWs are working under stressful conditions such as overcrowding-lack of beds in hospitals [20], life-threatening emergencies [21], the wait for possible disasters [22] with consequences on biomarkers of stress [23,24]. Furthermore, the availability of food is much less important during the night compared to the day in a hospital.…”

The Impact of Job-Demand-Control-Support on Leptin and Ghrelin as Biomarkers of Stress in Emergency Healthcare Workers

“…Emergency HCWs are a perfect example for studying the impact of night shift and stress on biomarkers of nutrition [ 32 ]. Indeed, HCWs work under stressful conditions such as overcrowding—lack of beds in hospitals [ 3 ], life-threatening emergencies [ 33 ], the wait for possible disasters [ 34 ] all having consequences on the biomarkers of stress [ 31 , 35 ]. Furthermore, the night shift has a bad influence on water consumption and food intake among emergency HCWs, in both quantity and quality [ 2 ].…”

Assessment of sick building syndrome using visual analog scales

“…Finally, previous literature has not assessed the influence of major putative explaining factors, 12 such as duration of exposure, 14 smoking, 15 and demographic variables 16 . Visual analog scales (VAS) were originally developed to assess the perception of pain, 17 and have also been used to assess a variety of subjective feelings 18–22 . Currently, the VAS is the tool used by occupational physicians to assess stress among workers 23 .…”

“…16 Visual analog scales (VAS) were originally developed to assess the perception of pain, 17 and have also been used to assess a variety of subjective feelings. [18][19][20][21][22] Currently, the VAS is the tool used by occupational physicians to assess stress among workers. 23 Its use is attractive because it is simple to implement, easy for the patient to understand, and time-efficient in its execution.…”