• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.263-268
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• 2022

Health care workers (HCWs) are more than ten times more likely to be infected with coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19) than the general population, thus demonstrating the burden of COVID-19 among HCWs. Factors that expose HCWs to a differentially high-risk of COVID-19 acquisition are important to elucidate, enable appropriate public health interventions to mitigate against high risk and reduce adverse outcomes from the infection. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize and critically analyze the existing evidence on SARS-CoV-2 risk factors among HCWs. With no geographical limitation, we included studies, in any country, that reported (i) the PCR laboratory diagnosis of COVID-19 as an independent variable (ii) one or more COVID-19 risk factors among HCWs with risk estimates (relative risk, odds ratio, or hazard ratio) (iii) original, quantitative study design, and published in English or Mandarian. Our initial search resulted in 470 articles overall, however, only 10 studies met the inclusion criteria for this review. Out of the 10 studies included in the review, inadequate/lack of protective personal equipment, performing tracheal intubation, and gender were the most common risk factors of COVID-19. Based on the random effects adjusted pooled relative risk, HCWs who reported the use of protective personal equipment were 29% (95% CI: 16% to 41%) less likely to test positive for COVID-19. The study also revealed that HCWs who performed tracheal intubations were 34% (95% CI: 14% to 57%) more likely to test positive for COVID-19. Interestingly, this study showed that female HCWs are at 11% higher risk (RR 1.11 95% CI 1.01-1.21) of COVID-19 than their male counterparts. This article presents initial findings from a living systematic review and meta-analysis, therefore, did not yield many studies; however, it revealed a significant insight into better understanding COVID-19 risk factors among HCWs; insights important for devising preventive strategies that protect them from this infection.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.115-125
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• 2023

Objectives: This study was conducted to measure the level of radon in the air at a highway tunnel construction site in a gneiss area using the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM) and to evaluate exposure levels by occupation. Methods: Radon concentrations in the air were measured using E-PERM at points 300 m, 600 m, and 900 m from the tunnel entrance during the excavation and waterproofing work inside the tunnel. In addition, radon concentrations were measured during external excavation to compare with the inside of the tunnel. Personal exposure levels for major occupations including tunnel workers, construction equipment operators, waterproofers, shotcrete workers, and safety and health managers who participated in the construction were estimated using radon concentration measured in the work process area and working hours by occupation. Results: As a result of a total of 77 radon measurements, the geometric mean (GM) concentration was 71.1 Bq/m³, and the maximum concentration was 127.3 Bq/m³, which was below the indoor air quality criteria. Radon concentration by process decreased in the order of the tunnel excavation process (GM= Bq/m³, GSD=1.2), waterproofing process (GM=73.35 Bq/m³, GSD=1.2), and outside excavating process (GM=45.28 Bq/m³, GSD=1.2). Processes inside the tunnel were significantly higher than outside excavating processes (p<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in radon concentration measured inside by distance from the tunnel entrance, but the innermost point of the tunnel, 900 m (GM=79.24 Bq/m³, GSD=1.27), measured the highest. Conclusions: The occupation with the highest individual exposure to radon was tunnel worker (64.16 Bq/m³), followed by construction equipment driver (64.04 Bq/m³) and waterproofer (63.13 Bq/m³).

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.63-81
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• 2004

Purpose: To identify job satisfaction of hospital employees and the relating factors Methods: The study sample was a total of 1,031 healthcare workers(doctors, nurses, pharmacists, medical engineers, office workers, etc) at a tertiary teaching hospital. The data were collected using a questionnaire developed by a expert group. The questionnaire consisted of 21 items including job characteristics, organizational culture, and personal characteristics on the five Likert scale. Results: The overall satisfaction on job characteristics was 3.24 on the five Likert scale. The satisfaction of each item was 4.14 in role clarity, 3.26 in communication participating rate, 3.10 in work variety, 3.06 in autonomy, and 2.64 in workload. The overall satisfaction on organizational culture was 3.00. Particularly, the satisfaction on collaboration was 3.83, co-worker's support. 3.73, identity, 3.62, education/training opportunity, 3.12, pay, 2.62, welfare, 2.35, promotion, 2.34, and organizational conflict, 2.00. The level of satisfaction on personal characteristics was 3.00. In the satisfaction of each item, the score of disposition was 3.83, contribution to the hospital, 3.75, pride as a member of hospital, 3.70, and attitude on job performance, 3.68. The correlation between satisfaction and other variables was statistically significant with the exception of work variety. The satisfaction related significantly to loyalty index(r=.486, p=.000), autonomy(r=.415, p=.000), pride as a member of hospital(r=.411, p=.000), supervisor support(r=.364, p=.000). Conclusions: The results showed developing organizational strategy to promote job satisfaction can decrease the turnover rate and increase loyalty to the organization. It will contribute to enhance productivity in hospital.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.81 no.4
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• pp.274-280
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• 2018

Background: The risk of tuberculosis (TB) infection among health care workers (HCWs) is higher than as noted among workers in the general population. The prevalence and risk factors of TB infection among HCWs were assessed in a tertiary hospital in South Korea, resulting in a conclusion of an intermediate TB burden within the country. Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled HCWs who underwent a QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) test to detect the presence of a latent TB infection (LTBI), in patients admitted to a tertiary hospital in South Korea in 2017. The departments of the hospital were divided into TB-related and TB-unrelated departments, which were based on the risk of exposure to TB patients. In this sense, the risk factors for LTBI, including current working in the TB-related departments, were analyzed. Results: In this case, a total of 499 HCWs (54 doctors, 365 nurses and 80 paramedical personnel) were enrolled in this study. The median age of the subjects was 31 years (range, 20-67 years), 428 (85.8%) were female, and 208 (41.7%) were working in the TB-related departments. The prevalence of LTBI was 15.8% based on the QFT-GIT. Additionally, the prevalence of experience of exposure to pre-treatment TB patents was higher among HCWs working in the TB-related departments, than among HCWs working in the TB-unrelated departments (78.8% vs. 61.9%, p<0.001). However, there was no significant difference in the prevalence of LTBI between the two groups (17.3% vs. 14.8%, p=0.458). On a review of the multivariate analysis, only the factor of age was independently associated with an increased risk of LTBI (p=0.006). Conclusion: Broadly speaking, the factor of age was associated with an increased risk of LTBI among the HCWs in South Korea. However, those workers current working in the TB-related departments was not associated with an increased risk of LTBI.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.11 no.11
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• pp.455-462
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• 2013

This study was to examine the recognition and guarantee for psychiatric patients' rights of mental health care workers. The participants of this study were 231 mental health care workers from 10 mental health care institutions located in J city, Korea. Data was collected using questionnaires consisting of one instrument measuring participants' recognition and guarantee for psychiatric patients' rights, and participants' characteristics. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, t-test, one-way ANOVA with SPSS 12.0. The results of this study showed the mental healthcare workers' recognition and guarantee were significantly different in every subscales. Besides, the difference between recognition and guarantee toward psychiatric patients' rights was significantly associated with participants' occupations. Based on the findings, guiding where nursing education efforts should be focused to help putting in place the psychiatric patients' rights.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.80-86
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• 2004

Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) typing was applied to the epidemiological investigation of 21 Candida tropicalis isolates collected from urine specimens of 11 patients and one healthcare worker, in an intensive care unit (ICU) over a 4-month period. Seventeen epidemiologically unrelated strains from 14 patients were also tested to determine the discriminatory power of PFGE. PFGE typing consisted of electrophoretic karyotyping (EK) and restriction endonuclease analysis of genomic DNA (REAG), using two restriction enzymes (BssHII and SfiI). The EK pattern was the same in all 38 isolates, while REAG using SfiI separated the isolates into nine types. However, 16 different PFGE types were iden-tified by REAG with BssHII, and the same results were obtained when the results of both REAG tests were combined. In serial urinary isolates from 10 patients, all strains from each patient had the same PFGE pattern. While the epidemiologically unrelated strains from 14 patients consisted of 13 different PFGE types, the 20 isolates from the 11 ICU patients fell into only two PFGE types (types Cl and C2), and these apparently originated from the two different outbreaks. All strains of type Cl (n = 12) were isolated from six patients, between November 1999 and January 2000, and all of the type C2 strains (n=8) were isolated from five patients, during January and February 2000. This study shows two con-secutive clusters of C. tropicalis candiduria in an ICU, defined by PFGE typing, and also demonstrates that a PFGE typing method using BssHII is perhaps the most useful method for investigating C. tropi-calis candiduria.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.279-284
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• 2008

This paper aims to provide basic data for work environment control, prevention of worker exposure to asbestos and improvement of air quality to protect workers ‘health after measuring the level of airborne asbestos and workers' exposure in a shipbuilding repair businesses. For this study, a total of 27 samples were collected from 27 workers who had been exposed to asbestos during engine, piping, boiler and other manufacturing processes in 'A' Shipbuilding Repair Company in Gyeongnam. This research was conducted from Oct. 1 to 30, 2007 and had the following results: The target group (27 workers) consisted of all men with an average age of 35.9 years and 6.6 years of work on average. Among them, fifteen 15 (55.6%) were smokers. In terms of their duties at work, there were 12 plumbing repair engineers (44.4%), 8 boiler repair engineers (29.6%) and 7 engine engineers (25.9%). The geometric mean concentration of airborne asbestos was 0.004 f/cc. A total of 4 samples exceeded the exposure limit. In particular, three exceeded the legal limit by more than double, which means that some workers have been highly exposed to asbestos. In terms of the concentration of asbestos fibres by work process, plumbing repair was the highest (0.0071 f/cc($0.001{\sim}0.57\;f/cc$)) while boiler was the lowest (0.0015 f/cc($0.001{\sim}0.007\;f/cc$)). Based on this study, proper action needs to be taken as soon as possible to protect workers from the threat of asbestos.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.304-310
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• 2021

Background: Healthcare settings have been recognized among the most hazardous places to work. Based on the five categories of occupational hazards that were identified by the ILO and WHO, this study aimed to analyze policy framework relevant to occupational health protection of health workers (HWs) in public health service in China, then discussed how to share the experience of the National Health Service (NHS) England for improvement. Methods: Based on policy learning theories, policy analysis and qualitative interview were used in this study. Results: In the Chinese public health service, at least five laws related to the regulation of occupational health protection for HWs; however, enforcement of relevant laws was separated and multi-centered; the national monitoring system, which targeted to occupational hazards and health outcome for HWs in China, had yet to be developed; the top three priorities were workplace violence, bloodborne pathogens, and musculoskeletal disorders; national strategies included Security Hospital, and Healthy China 2030. In NHS England, three laws were fundamental; several monitoring systems had been set up, including NHS Staff Survey, Commissioning for Quality and Innovation incentive scheme; mental health, musculoskeletal problem, and nutrition disorder and overweight were raised great concern; Health and Safety, and NHS Healthy Workforce Program were critical nationwide strategies. Conclusion: There were several similarities as well as differences between the Chinese public health system and NHS England, which laid foundation of learning by China. Recommendations of improving occupational health policies in China were provided, based on the lessons learned from the NHS England.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.156-172
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• 2021

Objectives: To investigate the trends of industrial injuries among long-term health care workers in Korea Methods: T7866 injuries were selected from the total industrial injuries approved by the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act(Occupational Safety and Health Act) among long-term health care workers between 2007 and 2016 in Korea. We analyzied the trends of industrial injuries according to work process, occurrence type, and causes. Results: The industrial injuries among long-term health care workers increased since 2012. The mostly occurred area for industrial injuries were low back areas, which is related that the most serious industrial injuries occurred when the one long-term healthcare worker lift manually the recipient, from bed(ondol, Korean floor heating system) to a wheelchair, bed to bath bed, and wheelchair to bath chair. In addition to this, lack of workforce, increased work intensity due to overwork contributed the increasing of occupational injury. Conclusions: This study suggests that the main causes of industrial injuries were Lack of facilities and equipment for small private long-term care institutions, The physical load that goes into lifting the recipient directly, work intensity such as excessive workload and increased work speed. We suggest that the social publicization of long-term care service for the elderly, avoiding ways to lift recipients directly, introducing lifting machines as well as improving working methods, and reducing the workload of caregivers are required.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.31 no.spc
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• pp.525-533
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• 2020

Purpose: Workers in special employment relationship (WSERs) are workers in nonstandard employment arrangements who lack worker protection accorded in standard employment arrangements. This study aimed to describe self-rated health (SRH) and depressive symptoms (DS) among Korean WSERs in comparison to regular wage workers (RWW) and identify associations between working conditions and those outcomes. Methods: In this study, secondary data analysis using the 5th Korean Working Conditions Survey was used. The sample totaled 29,120, including 1,538 WSERs and 27,564 RWWs. Sociodemographic and work-related characteristics were employed as explanatory variables and SRH and DS as dependent variables. Using multiple logistic regression, the determinants of fair/poor SRH and DS were identified. Results: The prevalence rates for fair/poor SRH and DS in WSERs were 25.2% and 28.3%, respectively, and 20.7% and 25.0% in RWWs, respectively. Compared to RWWs, WSERs had 31% (aOR=1.31, 95% CI=1.14~1.49) and 20% (aOR=1.20, 95% CI=1.06~1.36) higher odds of SRH and DS, respectively. Some factors, such as a lack of rest guarantee and sickness presenteeism, had a larger influence in the WSER than in the RWW group. Conclusion: Compared to RWWs, WSERs reported having poorer working conditions and were more likely to report poor general and mental health. Therefore, in Korea, public health policymakers should consider measures to protect the working conditions and health of WSERs, a growing segment of the working population. The study produced new epidemiological evidence regarding the relationships between employment arrangements and health.