Investigation of awareness of occupational health and safety practices in healthcare professionals; an example of Elazig Conquest Sekin City Hospital

Studies to determine the behavioral tendencies of health workers in the field of occupational health and safety and their awareness on OHS issues are of great importance in terms of planning and implementing the necessary training contents. Healthcare professionals are the professions concerned with the prevention, control, diagnosis and treatment of diseases affecting human health and the prevention of transmission of these diseases to humans. Healthcare workers are exposed to many risks related to the running of the business. Since the health sector has been focusing only on providing health services for years, the health status of the sector workers has not been sufficiently emphasized. Hazards and risks in health institutions that affect the health and life of healthcare workers have an important place in our working life. It is known that there are physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic and psycho-social risk factors that employees in health institutions may be exposed to. Awareness of strategies and measures to prevent, control, reduce or eliminate occupational risks and hazards on health workers and the ability to keep up with changes has been emphasized as an important concept. In line with this framework, in our study, in order to determine the OHS perception levels of healthcare professionals, we studied the healthcare personnel working in Fethi Sekin City Hospital with 360 personnel in 2022 using the relational screening method. Study data were obtained face-to-face through a questionnaire and analyzed with the SPSS 24 program. As a result of the study, the OHS perception levels of health workers are determined at a moderate level. It has been concluded that the increase in variables such as professional experience, education, age, increases the OHS perceptions, and that the OHS perceptions of specialist and GP doctors are higher. In addition, men, young and older workers, Associate's degree and undergraduate education, midwives, health officers, auxiliary health officers. It has been determined that occupational safety participation is higher. It has been concluded that professional seniority affects the level of security participation and security communication. It is recommended by the hospital management to provide information meetings, warning and informative notes to increase the level of OHS perception, trust participation, and safety communication of healthcare professionals, and to inform and guide other employees in the field of OHS, with their professional staff. Keywords: OHS, Occupational safety perception, Safety communication, Security Participation, Fethi Sekin City Hospital