Evaluation of occupational safety in students studying at the faculty of Health Sciences

This study was conducted to evaluate occupational safety in students studying at the Faculty of Health Sciences and is a descriptive cross-sectional study. The population of the study consisted of 276 Nursing and Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation students who were studying at the Faculty of Health Sciences of "Kocaeli Health and Technology University". The sampling method was used to determine the sample and 161 students constituted the sample with a 5% margin of error and 95% reliability. In the study, data were collected with individual characteristics and occupational safety scale. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 22.0 (SPSS INC., Chicago, IL, USA) statistical programme was used to analyse the data. Descriptive characteristics of the participating students were determined using frequency and percentage analyses and standard deviation statistics. In our study 185 students participated. The mean age of the students was 22.36±1.60 and they went to hospital practices/internship for 4 semesters on average. All of the students received occupational health and safety training before the practices. The rate of those who experienced occupational accidents during practice/internship in the hospital was 13.7%. Of those who experienced occupational accidents, 8.6% had an injector stuck in their hand and 0.6% were injured while breaking an ampoule. It was determined that 95.7% of the students knew the health and safety signs in the place where they did their internship/practice, 91.9% had information about occupational diseases, 90.3% had information about what to do as a result of a work accident, 93.5% did not show sensitivity to occupational health and safety rules, 43.2% knew the legal regulations brought by the occupational health and safety law numbered 6331, 90.9% knew the meaning of occupational health and safety signs (warning signs). The mean score of all students from the OHS was 110.77±24. There was no statistically significant difference between the results of the OHS according to the departments (p=0.059). As a result, it was found that the occupational safety awareness scores of the students were above average. However, in our study where occupational accidents were determined, it is recommended to organise trainings to reduce occupational accidents.