Evaluations of occupational i̇njuri̇es presented to the emergency department.mechani̇sms,causes,features of acci̇dents

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the sociodemographic features, safety of the work environment and characteristics of work-related accidents presented to the emergency department. Material and Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 26 September 2014 to 26 December 2014 in Dokuz Eylül University Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine. The study was carried out with sequential patients presented to the emergency department results from occupational injuries whose age is 18 and above. Face-to-face interviews with survey were conducted. The survey has 4 main sections. The first section is about patients' demographics, the second section is about occupational safety of the work environment, the third section includes the features of occupational injury and the fourth section includes the questions about occupational injury solution offers of workers. Results: 40,185 patients presented to department of emergency medicine in the study period. There were 287 occupational injuries of them (0,71 % of all presentation). 170 (%59,2) of 287 were included to the study. The average age of the patients is 31, 1. The youngest patient was 18 and the oldest patient was 64. Injured patients who presented to the emergency department after occupational accident (n=156, % 91, 8) were low-medium educated workers. The %90 of injured patients had SSK as a social insurance. 34 % of the patients (n=57) are presented within the first three hours after the accident. Most of their presentation (n= 95, % 55, 8) to the emergency department were in afternoon (between 13.00 am to 15:00 am). Only half (n=85, % 50) of the injured workers had occupational safety training. The %68,4 of the study group (n=118) had an opinion that physical environment of the working places were suitable in terms of occupational safety. The most common cause of injuries were sharp and penetrating tools (%29,4 , n=50). Eleven patients (%6, 4) admitted to the hospital, and the majority of the patients (%92,9, n=158) were treated ambulatory and discharged from the emergency department. Three patients (1,7 %) had severe injury and one patient was dead (%0,58). Most of the workers (n = 113, 66.5%) were in favor regulation of the lack of protective equipment can not be corrected prevent the accident. The injured workers (n= 111 % 65.2) stated that if the necessary precautions had taken the injury would not had happened. Conclusions: Frequency of occupational injuries to the Dokuz Eylul University, department of Emergency medicine is low. Patients who presented to the emergency department after occupational accident were low-medium educated young workers. Although they stated that they did not receive adequate occupational safety training and they work in inadequate workplace safety environment that if the necessary precautions had taken the injury would not have happened. Key Words: Injuries, clinical medicine, health and safety, professional health applications, education and teaching.