An examination of operating room staff's level of knowledge and risk factors regarding occupational health and safety (The case of Van Training and Research Hospital)

This study aims to identify the risk factors faced by doctors, nurses, anesthesia technicians, and healthcare aides working in the operating room and to measure their knowledge levels regarding these risks. For this purpose, a total of 200 healthcare professionals, including 50 doctors, 50 nurses, 50 anesthesia technicians, and 50 healthcare aides working in the operating room of a public hospital, were included in the study. Descriptive statistics for the continuous variables among the features under consideration were expressed as Mean, Standard Deviation, Minimum, and Maximum values, while categorical variables were presented as frequencies and percentages. For comparing group means of continuous variables, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed. Following the ANOVA, the Duncan multiple comparison test was utilized to identify differences among the groups. In order to determine the relationships among these variables, Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated separately for each group. A significance level of 5% was adopted for all calculations, and the analyses were carried out using the SPSS (version 21) statistical software package. Among the 200 participants in the study, 56 were in the 18-30 age group, 100 were in the 31-40 age group, 32 were in the 41-50 age group, and 12 were in the 51-65 age group. Of the participants, 123 were male, while 77 were female. When occupational groups were examined in terms of risk factor assessment and level of knowledge, it was observed that doctors had a higher level of awareness compared to other occupational groups. In terms of gender, men were found to have a higher level of awareness than women. Analysis based on educational background indicated that as the level of education increased, the level of awareness also rose. In terms of professional experience, more experienced individuals were observed to have a higher level of awareness compared to less experienced employees. Similarly, participants with longer work experience in the current hospital had a higher level of awareness than those with shorter work experience. Regarding income level, individuals who considered themselves to be in a high-income group were found to have a higher level of awareness compared to other participants. In terms of work arrangements, on-call employees were observed to have a higher level of awareness compared to those working under other work arrangements.