Hospital Waste and Cleaning Workers in Baquba Teaching Hospital

Background: Medical waste is potentially hazardous, infectious, and toxic materials. It therefore requires special handling and disposal practices. Aims:  To determine: Impact of medical waste upon cleaning workers. Awareness of cleaning workers toward medical waste in Baquba teaching hospital Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among a random sample of (80) employees in Baquba teaching hospital in May 2011. Self-administered questionnaire which included occupational, organisational factors and sociodemographic variables was used. In addition, researcher observed collection, segregation, transportation, and disposal of medical waste at the hospital. Result: Most of the cleaning workers are younger age (35 year ), male 85%, the rate of illiteracy among cleaners in the hospitals was high 47.5%, the highest level of knowledge about hazard categories of medical waste had worked for (2–5 years), the cleaners are focused mainly on the sharps particles first degree, percentage who reported sharps as medical waste about 98%.  Conclusion: Most cleaning workers lacked sufficient awareness of impacts of poor clinical waste disposal and had never heard of any policy national or international on safe clinical waste management. Methods of collecting, segregating, transporting and disposing clinical waste at the hospital was poor

Occupational Hand Eczema Among Housewives Attending Baquba Teaching Hospital

Background: Housewife's hand eczema is a common disease which is due to the excessive and prolonged exposure of the hands to soap and water. Patients with hand eczema frequently have a history of atopic dermatitis or atopy. Aims: To determine the, clinical features, and patterns of occupational housewife's hand eczema in housewives and its prevalence in patients with atopic eczema or atopy attending Baquba teaching hospital. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study carried out in 1st June 2012 till 31st May 2013 among random sample of (280) housewives, aged (18-48) years, to determine the prevalence of occupational housewife's hand eczema among housewives attending Baquba Teaching Hospital /outpatient. Self-administered questionnaire which included occupational and sociodemographic variables was used and clinical examination has been done by dermatologist. Result: The prevalence of occupational housewife's hand eczema in patients with atopy  was (62.3%). The most common age group was (18- 37) years (75%), the younger age group. The duration of work was < (7) years. Roughness, fissures and erythema form more than (79%) of the cases. The most common sites of the lesions appeared mostly on palms and ventral surface of the fingers (63.5%). More than 90% of the cases did not used protective measures during work. Conclusion: The occupational housewife's hand eczema are frequently involved in patients with active atopic dermatitis. This study concluded that housewife's hand eczema is typically a lifestyle-related skin disease. Irrespective of any predisposition, its development and exacerbation depend on a patient’s awareness of causative and preventative factors

Occupational Irritant Hand Dermatitis among Nurses in Al-batool Teaching Hospital

Background: Occupational irritant hand dermatitis (IHD) is frequent in hospital workers, especially in nurses. A comprehensive understanding regarding hand dermatitis is essential for establishing proper prevention and treatment strategies.                              Aims: The purpose of this study is to identify the prevalence of occupational irritant contact hand dermatitis in hospital nursing staffs and to identify the risk factors for hand dermatitis among nurses in Al-batool teaching hospital.                           .              Patient and Methods: A Cross sectional study was conducted in Al-batool teaching hospital in Baquba city from 1st October 2013 to 30th March 2014. Completed questionnaires were obtained from 120 nurses (male and female) by face to face interview. In questionnaires we ask about the occurrence of the occupational hand dermatitis as diagnosed by dermatologist and the relation between hand dermatitis and the use of latex gloves and cleansing agent and the risk factor associated with this dermatitis.                                                                                       Results: Irritant hand dermatitis was diagnosed in 57 nurses. The prevalence of occupational irritant hand dermatitis was 48% (57 of the 120 nurses). We found hand dermatitis prevalence is of 54% (31 of 57) in Gynecological department nurses whereas the prevalence in pediatric department nurses was 46% (26 of 57). 60% (34 of the 57) of the cases presented with a hand dermatitis, the cause was latex gloves and in 25% (14 of 57) of nurses the cause was cleansing products, and the remaining 15% (9 of the 57) the cause was combined of both. 23% of nurses report a history of asthma (13 of the 57) and 33 %( 19 of 57) of nurses have allergic rhinitis. Also there was a family history of atopy in 44 % of nurses (25 of 57). There is increase in the occupational irritant contact hand dermatitis with increase period of work, 30% in nurse work more than 10 years.                                                            Conclusions: Our study indicates that it is necessary to provide nurse with specific skin care advice as part of their training. This might help to identify trainees at increased risk of developing occupational irritant contact hand dermatitis, encouraging the initiation of appropriate skin protection measures.