Association of overtime work and obesity with needle stick and sharp injuries in medical practice

BACKGROUND Needle stick and sharps injuries(NSIs)may cause infections among medical personnel.Obesity and overtime work among medical personnel increase the incidence of work injuries.AIM To investigate whether overtime work and obesity increase the risk of NSIs.METHODS This cross-sectional study used the data of 847 hospital personnel,including 104 doctors,613 nurses,67 medical laboratory scientists,54 specialist technicians,and nine surgical assistants.Of them,29 participants notified the hospital of having at least one NSI in 2017.The data collected included age,overtime work,body mass index,medical specialty such as doctor or nurse,and professional grade such as attending physician or resident.Theχ2 and Fisher’s exact tests were used to compare categorical variables.Multiple logistic regression analysis and the Sobel test were used to assess the risk of NSIs.RESULTS Overtime work,body weight,and medical specialty were significantly associated with NSIs(P<0.05).After adjustment for risk factors,heavy overtime work was an independent risk factor for NSIs,and healthy body weight and nursing specialty were independent protective factors against NSIs.After adjustment for risk factors,medical personnel with healthy body weight has half as many NSIs as those with unhealthy body weight;the proportion of NSIs in doctors with healthy body weight was 0.2 times that in doctors with unhealthy body weight;the proportion of injuries among residents was 17.3 times higher than that among attending physicians;the proportion of injuries among junior nurses was 3.9 times higher than that among experienced nurses;the proportion of injuries among nurses with heavy overtime work was 6.6 times higher than that among nurses with mild overtime work;and the proportion of injuries among residents was 19.5 times higher than that among junior nurses.Heavy overtime work mediated the association of medical specialty with NSIs.CONCLUSION In addition to promoting the use of safety needles and providing infection control education,managers should review overtime schedules,and medical personnel should be encouraged to maintain a healthy weight.

Is burnout a mediating factor between sharps injury and workrelated factors or musculoskeletal pain?

BACKGROUND Burnout,musculoskeletal pain,and sharps injuries(SIs)affect medical workers.AIM To establish a model between SIs,burnout,and the risk factors to assess the extent to which burnout affects SIs.METHODS This questionnaire was used for an observational and cross-sectional study,which was based on members at a hospital affiliated with a medical university in Taichung,Taiwan,in 2020.The valid responses constituted 68.5%(1734 of 2531).The items were drawn from the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire and Copenhagen burnout inventory and concerned work experience,occupational category,presence of chronic diseases,sleep duration,overtime work,and work schedule.Factor analysis,chi-square test,Fisher exact test,Multiple linear,logistic regression and Sobel test were conducted.The present analyses were performed using SAS Enterprise Guide 6.1 software(SAS Institute Inc.,Cary,NC,United States),and significance was set at P<0.05.RESULTS Personal and work-related burnout ranks, sex, work experience ranks, occupationalgroups, drinking in the past month, sleep duration per day, presence ofchronic diseases, overtime work ranks, and work schedule were associated withSIs. Frequent upper limb and lower limb pain (pain occurring every day or once aweek) determined to be related to SIs. High personal burnout (> Q3) and highwork-related burnout (> Q3) mediated the relationship between SIs and frequentlower limb pain. Similarly, frequent lower limb pain mediated the relationship ofSIs with high personal and high work-related burnout. High personal and highwork-related burnout mediated the relationships of SIs with overtime work andirregular shift work. The mediating model provides strong evidence of anassociation between mental health and SIs.CONCLUSIONBurnout was determined to contribute to SIs occurrence;specifically, it mediatedthe relationships of SIs with frequent musculoskeletal pain, overtime work, andirregular shift work.