Journal of Occupational Health and Epidemiology
Volume:8 Issue: 3, Summer 2019

In recent years, the risk of acquiring antibiotic resistance has been increasing due to the widespread use of antibiotics. This study aims to evaluate the antibiotic resistance pattern in patients referred to Ali-ebn Abi-Taleb hospital.

In a descriptive study, samples of urine, blood, cerebrospinal fluid, and body fluid were collected from patients referred to Ali-ebn Abi-Taleb Hospital from September 2014 to February 2015. Of these, 687 isolates identified as E. coli were tested for antibiotic susceptibility against 15 antibiotics by the Kirby- Bauer method based on CLSI 2015. The relevant prevalence, percentage, and mean were reported using SPSS (version 16).

A total of 10824 samples were collected. A total of 866 isolates were grown on an agar medium, and 80.3% of the samples were isolated from women. The highest rate of antibiotic resistance was reported to be for Amoxicillin (82.2%). The lowestrate of antibiotic resistance was reported against Nitrofurantoin (14%).

We concluded there is an increasing rate of antibiotic resistance among E. coli isolates. Therefore, the necessity of identifying drug resistance is apparent using precise and straightforward methods to prevent the extensive distribution of antibiotic resistantagents.

Working time accounts for a great deal of an individual worker’s life. This study aims to examine the impact of ergonomic conditions on the self-esteem of workers in Gaziantep, Turkey.

This descriptive study was conducted recruiting 755 workers from two factories and verbal informed consent was obtained from the workers. Data were obtained from groups using a self-report form (63 items) and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (10 items).

of 755 workers, 38.3% were aged 26–30 yrs, and 97.2% were male. In addition, 75.4% of the workers reported that they did not have an ergonomic working environment, and 87.4% of low self-esteem workers did not adopt correct posture when working (p < 0.05).

Most of the workers did not adopt correct posture when working and did not enjoy an ergonomic working environment. Based on the results, creating such an environment would benefit the workers.

Nurses continuously carry out several activities and need to develop certain cognitive mechanisms to be able to concentrate on their tasks. These activities and tasks affect and deal with the health and safety of people and their job performance. This study aims to investigate the association between prospective and retrospective memories and job performance of nurses in Imam Hospital, Ahvaz, Iran, in 2016.

 This descriptive study was conducted on 150 nurses (67 males and 83 female) of Imam Hospital in Ahvaz based on an available sampling method. The Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ) determined the amount of prospective and retrospective memories, and job performance was evaluated using Steinmetz questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive tests, analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation.

The mean score of prospective memory, retrospective memory and job performance were 20.89 (±5.87), 19.43 (±5.12) and 52.46 (±8.14), respectively. Regression model showed that 22% of the variance in job performance is explained by prospective memory and retrospective memory.   

We concluded prospective and retrospective memories were associated with the job performance of nurses working in Imam Hospital, Ahvaz, Iran. It is very important for the safety of the patients to improve the ability of the nurses who perform different tasks. In PM's tasks, they implemented strategies.

The effectiveness and adequacy of occupational health and safety management system should be monitored and evaluated at organization level on a regular basis. Safety audit has a clear role in the development of organizations safety management systems. Internal safety audit is a method to appraise to the management the current status of occupational health and safety at workplace. Selection of internal safety auditors is a crucial decision making process which depend on several criteria. The purpose of the study was to select internal auditors among the safety officers in a construction organization using step-wise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA) and additive ratio assessment (ARAS) method.

The study is based on the subjective evaluation of performance criteria by decision makers and 19 safety officers eligible to conduct safety audit were considered. Finally, six safety officers were considered for the position of internal safety auditors. The SWARA method was applied to calculate weights for criteria of selection and ARAS method was adopted to rank the safety officers.

Seven criteria were considered as per the requirement of the organization and calculated the weights. The overall performance index was calculated based on criteria weights to rank the safety officers.

The findings of this study showed that the SWARA and ARAS methods are useful to select the internal safety auditors. The analysis is simple and can be adopted in practical in situations where the number of criteria varies.

Postpartum depression (PPD) is a significant health problem that affects women's health. Tthe purpose of this study was to predict sleep disorders and postpartum depression based on the social support provided for employed women referred to health centers in Shiraz, Iran, from 2018 to 2019.

  A descriptive study was conducted on 90 working mothers, who were assessed 4 weeks after childbirth at health centers in Shiraz, from November 13 to December 13, 2018. The participants were selected through a multi-stage random sampling method. Data collection was done using the Standard Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Questionnaire (EPDS), and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). Data were analyzed via Pearson's simple correlation coefficient and multivariate regression.

Regression analysis showed significant correlations between social support, postpartum depression, and sleep disturbances in respondents (MR=0.409 and p <0.001). Social support dimensions can predict about 17% of the variance in the postpartum and sleep disturbance among women. There was not a significant correlation between social support and postpartum depression. 

During the postpartum period, health practitioners should provide psychological education or counseling, and emphasize social support, particularly for spouses.

The number of occupational safety incidents has been a major concern in terms of human, economic, and legal considerations. Risk assessment is a logical method for the assessment of risks, which specifies risks and their potential implications for individuals, materials, equipment, and the environment. This study aims to identify both risks and risk assessment methods at a highway construction site using the FMEA method and by drawing safety contour maps, making use of ArcGIS 10.2.

This study was conducted in 9 general steps, including 1. Reviewing demographic data, 2. Identifying human risks, 3. Identifying risk causes, 4. Identifying risk effects, 5. Determining the severity and occurrence of risks, 6. Rating risks, 7. Controlling risks, 8. Entering the coordinates and RPNs of occupations for each location in ArcGIS, and 9. Drawing safety contour maps using ArcGIS 10.2. The mean and standard deviation of the data were reported using SPSS Statistics V 22.0.

At the site of this study, 62.97% of the units had moderate risks, and the rest had low risks (37.03%). The highest RPNs were for light machines and asphalt rollers with the values of 42.91 and 41.3, respectively. In contrast, the lowest RPNs were obtained for the laboratory and the water supply plant.

Most of the site units had moderate risks, so it is expected that the risk of the units would be minimized by implementing the recommendations.

Among the most common occupational hazards threatening healthcare workers are needle stick injuries, injuries caused by sharp and cutting instruments, and contact with infectious pathogens transmitted by blood. This study aims to determine the prevalence and associated factors of needle stick injuries, injuries caused by sharp and cutting instruments,as well as blood and body fluids affecting healthcare workers.

This research adopted a descriptive cross-sectional approach in which all healthcare workers at the two training hospitals affiliated with Fasa University of Medical Sciences were selected in 2017. After receiving ethical approval (IR.FUMS.REC.1396.243), the data collected by the researcher using a questionnaire and proportional sampling. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed prior to use. Data analysis was performed by SPSS Statistics V22.0, using mean, frequency, and a Chi-Square test.

According to the results of this study, 51.0% of the staff had experienced at least an injury caused by cutting tools, and 26.7% of them considered carelessness as the main cause of the injury. Nurses had the highest prevalence (24.4%) of the experience among other staff.

The results imply that injuries caused by needles and sharp objects need more attention.  In addition, improper reactions at the time of the injuries necessitate educating healthcare workers and increasing their knowledge about the dangers posed by these injuries

Providing favorable services associated with students' behavior and health care is one of the most important tasks of school principals, and the health performance (HP) of schools is influenced by the organizational factors, such as spirituality in the workplace (SW).The purpose of this research is to predict the HP of school principals based on SW.

In this descriptive study, all high school principals in Tabriz (N₌800) during 2018-2019 academic year were listed. Of these, 258 principals were selected through stratified random sampling in terms of location of schools. Data collection was performed using, the questionnaires of managers' HP and SW, as well as its components, including meaningful work (MW), sense of community (SOC), and the alignment of organizational values (AOV). Data were analyzed using path analysistest using PLS software.

The results of structural equation modeling revealed that the HP of school principals based on SW and its components was predictable. The predicted coefficient (adjusted R2)was 0.49. Furthermore, the results showed that the path coefficients of latent variables were significant (P <0.001).

It is required to have a proper spiritual environment and pay attention to spirituality in the school workplace in order to improve the HP of school principals to provide good health services to students.