RESUMEN
PURPOSE: We studied occupational stress and its psychosocial effects in a sample of Italian radiologists and radiotherapists: MATERIALS AND METHODS: Radiologists and radiotherapists attending two medical conferences were invited to complete a questionnaire comprising four sections investigating the risk of occupational stress (organisational discomfort, Karasek's Job Content Questionnaire, Siegrist's Effort-Reward Imbalance, Warr's Job Satisfaction) and four sections investigating the health effects of such stress (Goldberg's Anxiety and Depression Scales, General Health Questionnaire, Lifestyles Questionnaire). RESULTS: Radiologists and radiotherapists generally expressed high levels of control, reward and satisfaction. However, 38.5% complained of severe organisational discomfort, 24% reported job strain, 28% reported effort/reward imbalance and 25% were dissatisfied. Female radiologists and radiotherapists showed higher levels of organisational discomfort than their male colleagues. Younger and less experienced radiologists and radiotherapists had higher strain scores than their older and more experienced colleagues. A significant correlation was observed between stress predictors and the effects of stress on health, including depression and anxiety, psychological distress and unhealthy lifestyles. CONCLUSIONS: Radiologists and radiotherapists are exposed to major occupational stress factors, and a significant percentage of them suffer from workplace stress. A special effort is required to prevent this condition.
Asunto(s)
Agotamiento Profesional/diagnóstico , Enfermedades Profesionales/diagnóstico , Médicos/psicología , Radiología , Estrés Psicológico/etiología , Adaptación Psicológica , Adulto , Ansiedad/diagnóstico , Agotamiento Profesional/etiología , Agotamiento Profesional/prevención & control , Depresión/diagnóstico , Femenino , Humanos , Satisfacción en el Trabajo , Estilo de Vida , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Proyectos Piloto , Escalas de Valoración Psiquiátrica , Pruebas Psicológicas , Recompensa , Ciudad de Roma , Estrés Psicológico/complicaciones , Estrés Psicológico/diagnóstico , Encuestas y Cuestionarios , Recursos Humanos , Carga de Trabajo , Lugar de Trabajo/organización & administraciónRESUMEN
PURPOSE: Radiology is among the specialties with an increasing risk of litigation. Regardless of the outcome of legal proceedings, physicians who are sued usually perceive the claim as an assault on their integrity and may suffer psychological or physical effects known as "malpractice stress syndrome". MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two hundred and six radiologists and 108 radiotherapists responded to a questionnaire containing specific items concerning their perception of malpractice stress and their opinions about the causes of clinical errors, as well as an assessment of work satisfaction and general health. RESULTS: One third of physicians had been sued for malpractice. Age was significantly related to the occurrence of malpractice litigation. Radiological errors were purportedly related to occupational discomfort, and the latter variable was significantly associated with work dissatisfaction and a low level of psychological and physical well-being. CONCLUSIONS: Radiologists are well acquainted with medical malpractice and its causes; however, they have limited familiarity with clinical risk management practices and often ignore procedures of informed consent. A targeted educational effort is required to overcome these shortcomings.
Asunto(s)
Mala Praxis , Errores Médicos , Médicos/psicología , Radiología , Radioterapia , Gestión de Riesgos , Estrés Psicológico , Adulto , Interpretación Estadística de Datos , Errores Diagnósticos/prevención & control , Femenino , Humanos , Consentimiento Informado , Italia , Masculino , Errores Médicos/prevención & control , Persona de Mediana Edad , Estrés Psicológico/prevención & control , Encuestas y Cuestionarios , SíndromeRESUMEN
Participatory techniques have been adopted in vigilance of Civitavecchia's port activities, in order to control and remove injury causes. Injuries were studied by small participatory groups of port workers. As an example, seafastening operations were analyzed. The project team encouraged the workers to design ergonomic measures, or to modify work organization. Workers made suggestions and presented their points of view, that were reported to management for implementation.
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Accidentes de Trabajo/prevención & control , Ergonomía , Educación en Salud , Participación del Paciente , Seguridad , HumanosRESUMEN
A descriptive exploratory survey was used to investigate the occurrence of physical workplace violence among health care workers as well as the complaints and responses to such violence. The questionnaire was used for collecting data from a sample of 355 workers. Results showed that 25.6% of hospital workers reported physical aggression at any time of the working life, 8.5% in the last year. Injured workers showed significantly higher environmental complaint score than other workers. The results of the study indicated the importance of adopting hospital policies for dealing with incidents of violence.
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Personal de Hospital , Violencia/estadística & datos numéricos , Lugar de Trabajo , Femenino , Humanos , MasculinoRESUMEN
Job satisfaction is an important determinant of wellbeing and a moderator of stress at work. The Warr's Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS) is probably the most used questionnaire to assess job satisfaction. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the Italian version of the JSS. The questionnaire has been distributed to 632 health care workers. Results show that the Italian version of JSS has good reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.94). Principal component analysis revealed that a significant percentage of the variance (52%) was explained by a single factor which included all the 16 items. Varimax orthogonal rotation yielded the same two factors observed in the original questionnaire: intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction. The JSS may be an useful tool in the assessment of psychosocial risk at work.
Asunto(s)
Personal de Salud , Satisfacción en el Trabajo , Encuestas y Cuestionarios , HumanosRESUMEN
Workplace assessment is a critical issue in small firms, and even in bigger ones if workers are scattered in large working areas. The traditional "top-down" approach, based on centralized risk assessment and hardly understandable documents, may have limited impact on workers' safety behaviour. The Local Sanitary Unit RMF tried to improve workers' participation to risk assessment, through auditing techniques. Waste workers signalled occupational condition of biological and chemical risk, which had not been taken into account in the Corporate Risk Assessment Document. The participatory approach to workplace risk assessment proved to be an easy and not expensive method to increase workers' awareness of risk and compliance to hygienic measures.
Asunto(s)
Salud Laboral , Eliminación de Residuos , Humanos , Vigilancia de la Población , Medición de RiesgoRESUMEN
The Work Organisation Assessment questionnaire (WOAq) has been translated into Italian, back-translated, and modified. Data were collected from 160 health care workers and 50 white-collar bank employees. Employee wellbeing was assessed by the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12), while work stress was assessed by the Karasek's Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ). Reliability, as measured by Cronbach's alpha, was very good (0.95). Principal component analysis revealed that a significant percentage of the variance (41.8%) was explained by a single summative factor which included 25 of the 28 items. Varimax orthogonal rotation yielded the same five factors observed in the original questionnaire (reward and recognition, quality of relationship with management, quality of physical environment, quality of relationship with colleagues, workload). The WOAQ sum score was positively related to social support, as measured by the Karasek's JCQ (Spearman's rho = 0.523; p < 0.001). It was negatively related both to job strain (Spearman's rho = -0.516; p < 0.001) and psychological distress GHQ (Spearman's rho = -0.365; p < 0.001). In conclusion, the Italian version of WOA maintains the original characteristics. The questionnaire has strong association with job stress and employee wellbeing, and it may be useful in risk assessment procedures.
Asunto(s)
Salud Laboral , Encuestas y Cuestionarios , Trabajo , Adulto , Femenino , Humanos , Italia , Lenguaje , Masculino , Enfermedades Profesionales/epidemiología , Estrés Psicológico/epidemiologíaRESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: A program to promote occupational health among wood dust workers in the district of Civitavecchia. METHODS: In recent years, occupational health physicians charged of medical surveillance of wood workers (Competent Physicians, CPs) had been invited to perform a peer-review of their methods and activities. In the present phase, CPs have been invited to show the result of their medical surveillance. RESULTS: One hundred forty seven wood workers were submitted to rhinoscopic examination. The prevalence of woodwork-related rhinitis and other pathologic signs, including nasal adenocarcinoma (one case), was 32.7%. The prevalence of rhinitis in woodworkers increased with years of working as a woodworker. CONCLUSION: Wood dust and chemical exposures in wood workers represent a serious risk of disease for the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses.
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Polvo , Salud Laboral , Vigilancia de la Población , Rinitis/diagnóstico , Madera , Humanos , ItaliaRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Working in health care increases the probability that an impaired worker be hazardous for third persons. METHODS: A literature review concerning identification, intervention, and treatment of hazardous health care workers is here reported. RESULTS: Published reports of health care worker-to-patient transmission of bloodborne infections, and papers concerning the so-called "impaired physician", have been reviewed. DISCUSSION: According to European directives on workers' health and safety, the occupational health physician charged of medical surveillance of hospital workers is often mandated to manage impaired professionals. CONCLUSIONS: Strategies for early identification, treatment and rehabilitation of impaired physicians are reviewed and suggestions for preventive action are given.
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Personal de Salud , Transmisión de Enfermedad Infecciosa de Profesional a Paciente/prevención & control , Enfermedades Profesionales , Humanos , Factores de RiesgoRESUMEN
Four new cases of Kawasaki Syndrome are presented. The Authors discuss the etiopathogenetic hypothesis, point out the usefulness of treatment with ASA + high dose intravenous gammaglobulins, underline the risk of cardiac complication.
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Síndrome Mucocutáneo Linfonodular , Aspirina/uso terapéutico , Niño , Preescolar , Ecocardiografía , Electrocardiografía , Femenino , Cardiopatías/diagnóstico , Cardiopatías/etiología , Humanos , Inmunoglobulinas Intravenosas/uso terapéutico , Masculino , Síndrome Mucocutáneo Linfonodular/complicaciones , Síndrome Mucocutáneo Linfonodular/tratamiento farmacológicoRESUMEN
Today cardiomyopathy is the main cause of death of patients with thalassemia disease since the second decade of their lives. Echocardiography is a useful means to put into evidence cardiac alterations before the appearance of the clinical marks of cardiac failure.
Asunto(s)
Transfusión Sanguínea , Ecocardiografía , Transfusión de Eritrocitos , Talasemia/diagnóstico por imagen , Adolescente , Adulto , Niño , Preescolar , Femenino , Ferritinas/sangre , Insuficiencia Cardíaca/diagnóstico por imagen , Insuficiencia Cardíaca/etiología , Humanos , Lactante , Masculino , Talasemia/sangre , Talasemia/complicaciones , Talasemia/terapiaRESUMEN
The Authors have studied anamnestic, clinical and morphological data of a case of Congenital Nephrotic Syndrome of Finnish type (CNS-FT). Similarly to the first case reported in Italy, the patient was born by consanguineous parents. For the determination of the real incidence of this disease, in countries shere CNS-FT is rarely signalled, the importance of histopathological examination of the kidney is emphasized.