Browsing by Author "Gangata, Owen"

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    Factors that predispose nurses and midwives to biological occupational health hazards at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Malawi
    (2018-06-19) Gangata, Owen
    Nursing and midwifery personnel experience a higher rate of workplace hazards exposure than other health care workers because nurses perform more bedside procedures. Not much was known about the extent of exposure to biological health hazards among nurses and midwives and the preventive measures put in place to avoid or minimize this exposure in Malawi. The study aimed at investigating factors that predispose nurses and midwives to biological occupational health hazards. A quantitative approach was adopted using a descriptive cross-sectional design. A self- administered structured questionnaire was used to collect data from a random sample of 160 nurse midwives. Ethical approval was sought from the College of Medicine Research and Ethics Committee (COMREC) and permission to conduct the study was obtained from the Hospital Director of Kamuzu Central Hospital. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. The study was conducted from October 2016 to April 2017. The study has revealed that 93.42% of the respondents were exposed to biological occupational health hazards. The number one leading factor to predispose respondents to occupational hazards was inadequate personal protective equipment (98%, n = 158), followed by workload (97.5%, n = 156) and poor hand washing practices (93.75%, n = 150). The study findings imply that knowledge of infection prevention, good sanitation in the working environment, adequate workload and adherence to hand-washing practices have proven to be some of the significant preventive measures to biological hazard exposure. The study recommends provision of adequate personal protective equipment, frequent in-service trainings on occupational hazards to be conducted and ensuring adequate nurse – patient ratio.