Medical waste generation in gorgan hospitals, 2014

Background and purpose: Hospitals and health-care centers are the major sources of hazardous waste generation. Hospital wastes should be collected and disposed under certain conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate hospitals waste generation in Gorgan, Iran. Materials and methods: The study was performed in 8 hospitals including 3 educational hospitals and 5 non-educational hospitals in Gorgan, 2014. Waste generation was investigated in 4 consecutive months, three times a week. Weighting was performed 384 times (48 times in each hospital). Mann-Whitney and nonparametric correlation test were used for data analysis. Results: The results showed 40.27 hazardous and 59.73 general wastes were generated in hospitals. The mean rates of waste general and hazardous generation were 2.63 and 1.03 kg/bed/day, respectively. These rates in educational and non-educational hospitals were 3.75 and 1.96 kg/bed/day, respectively. Conclusion: Generation of hazardous waste was found to be high in Gorgan hospitals. Also, the educational hospitals generated more waste than non-educational hospitals. Therefore, necessary measures should be taken to reduce the generation of waste, especially hazardous waste. © 2015, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

The Effect of Work on Health and Work Ability

In many countries through the industrial world the population is aging. Despite an increased life expectancy, improved living conditions, and better health status, the average time people spend in paid work is decreasing. There are several mechanisms of withdrawal from the labor force among elderly workers. Workers may leave the work force due to disability, unemployment, and early retirement. Many health problems, work related factors, life styles and individual characteristics are involved with early leaving of the labor force. In recent years, promoting work ability has been considered as an affirmative means to decrease work-related disability and early retirement. The concept of work ability expresses the interrelations between the productive potential of a worker, the worker’s individual characteristics, and physical and psychosocial work related factors. Therefore, assessment of work ability should measure the ability of a worker to perform his/her job, taking into account the specific work-related factors, mental and physical capabilities, and health. The work ability index (WAI), a questionnaire-based method, constructed by Finnish researchers to operationalize the concept of work ability, has been promoted in recent years as a valuable tool in occupational health programs dedicated to decrease an early exit from the work force. The specific objectives of this thesis are: 1) To describe the associations between perceived health and specific diseases with early exit from the work force. 2) To evaluate the relative influence of individual characteristics, health, lifestyle factors, and physical and psychosocial work-related factors on work ability. 3) To investigate the effect of a poor work ability on productivity losses at work

Gesundheit, Arbeitsfähigkeit und Arbeitsmotivation: Beweggründe für den Erwerbsausstieg am Beispiel Erwerbstätiger der Geburtskohorten 1959 und 1965

In Germany, 20?% of annual retirees withdraw from the labour market early due to work disability. Meanwhile, it has been argued that in modern societies, not only health but also work motivation and self-perceived work ability have growing influences on individual immediate employment decisions. Moreover, work motivation and work ability have been argued to mediate the relationship between health and labour market exit. Therefore, this article analyses the mediational effect of work ability and work motivation in the relationship between health and labour market exit. The study employs data from the lidA Cohort Study (German Cohort Study on Work, Age, Health, and Work Participation) (n?=?3796), which is linked to register data from the Federal Employment Agency. The data linkage facilitates following the survey participants' work trajectories even after their interviews and allows for a one-year follow-up study. The sample of the lidA study comprises two cohorts of the ageing German baby boom generation (employees born in 1959 and 1965). The baby boomers are chosen because they are the first cohorts whose official retirement age has been raised to 67 years of age and for whom almost no possibilities of early retirement are available aside from disability pensions. This article reveals an increased probability of labour market withdrawal within one year after individuals report health impairments, low physical or mental work ability, or a preference for exiting employment (low work motivation). The findings further show that low work motivation and low self-perceived work ability can only partly mediate the relationship between impaired health and labour market withdrawal (<?10?%)