An appraisal of prevailing health problems among health care workers in a teaching hospital in Oyo State
Background: Health problems have been the major source of diseases and injuries among health workers. Health workers everywhere face chemical, biological, physical and psychological workplace hazards. Despite the fact that there is widespread of knowledge about the risks and effective preventive measures, workers are still exposed to occupational health problems. Objective: This study was designed to assess the prevailing health hazards among healthcare workers. Methods: The research which is a retrospective study was carried out to appraise the prevailing health problems among health care workers in Oyo State from January September 2009. Data used were obtained from staff medical records department in a teaching hospital. The obtained data were statistically analysed through the use of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). Results: The findings of the research showed that a total of 586 (67.4%) health workers had malaria during the course of study. The nursing department had the highest incidence of health problems including malaria 29% (296 health workers), infections (7.1%), stress (7.1%) and pains (8.8%). Also, there was a high incidence of hypertension among the information service officers. The radiology department had the highest number of health workers who had cancer and majority of the workers that had infections were from the surgical department. Conclusion: Health education and awareness programmes should be encouraged in order to increase the awareness of work related diseases and adverse effect of risk taking behaviours.