Perceptions of Occupational Health Hazards Among Jordanian Nurses: A cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Occupation health pertains to the health of employees in relation with their workplaces, and is aimed at the prevention of job-related injuries and illnesses. However, given the significance of occupational health and the possible adversarial effects of occupational hazards to the nursing team, there is paucity of evidence on the level of awareness, knowledge and attitudes of nurses towards occupational hazards in the workplace. The aim of this study is to measure levels of perceptions of occupational hazards, and to identify relationships and differences on perceptions of occupational hazards based on sociodemographic characteristics, the study employed cross-sectional, descriptive method. A valid and reliable 13-item questionnaire was used to measure perceptions of occupational hazards.

Results showed that nurses had high levels of perceptions of occupational hazards. Nurses with longer lengths of work experiences had higher levels of perceptions of occupational hazards than nurses with shorter lengths of work experiences..the study concluded that hospitals should implement strategies that can support nurses in sustaining high levels of perceptions of occupational hazards, and should find ways to retain nurses within the hospital workforce. Future research can examine personal- and organizational-level factors that can impede or facilitate perceptions of occupational hazards, and explore how perceptions of occupational hazards translate to actual injuries sustained at work, quality of workplace environment, quality of work life, job performance, patient satisfaction, and other relevant organizational and clinical outcomes.

Keywords: Nurse; Occupational hazards; Perceptions; Jordan