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CC BY 4.0 · Ibnosina Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
DOI: 10.1055/s-0045-1806757
Original Article

A Four-Year Review of Occupational Injuries among Health Care Workers in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Moazzam Zaidi 
1   Preventive and Social Medicine, Health Sciences Division, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Glenpark, New Zealand
,
Marwan Behisi
2   Occupational Health Department, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
› Author Affiliations Funding and Sponsorship None.
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Abstract

Background

In the demanding health care sector, occupational injuries are prevalent and diverse, affecting health care workers' physical health and quality of life, and resulting in disability. There is a dearth of studies that comprehensively assessed diverse occupational injuries by using registered data over an extended period.

Objectives

Thus, this study aimed to investigate the burden of work-related injury in a tertiary care hospital.

Patients and Methods

This study examined data collected from January 2017 to December 2020 at Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, a tertiary care hospital in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. A total of 187 health care workers with occupational injuries, registered in the Exposure Prevention Information Network (EPINet), were considered in the analysis.

Results

Blood and body fluids exposures (BBFEs) accounted for 56.7% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 52.34, 59.89) of all occupational injuries, while falls, slips, trips, and collisions made up 15% (95% CI: 12.47, 18.73). Needlestick injuries accounted for 48.1 and 84.9% of all occupational and BBFE injuries, respectively. The majority (38.7%) of BBFE happened at the operating theaters, followed by the emergency room (28.3%). Note that 60.4% of all injuries and 57.3% of BBFEs were experienced by nurses. The highest number of injuries was documented in 2019 and 2020.

Conclusion

BBFEs and falls, slips, trips, and collisions were the most common occupational injuries, with nurses being the most affected. Nearly half of these incidents involve needlestick injuries, highlighting the need for strict safety protocols, regular training, use of personal protective equipment, patient handling protocols, and improved ergonomics.

Keywords

occupational injuries - health care workers - hospital - EPINet - Saudi Arabia

Authors' Contributions

We confirm that this manuscript represents original work and has not been published or submitted elsewhere. M.B.: Writing e review and editing, writing original draft, methodology, investigation, funding acquisition, and conceptualization. M.Z.: Writing original draft, methodology, investigation, formal analysis, data curation, and conceptualization.


Compliance with Ethical Principles

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and relevant local regulations. Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare (Ref 0189/24) to compliance with ethical standards for research involving human participants. All data were securely stored and only accessible to the research team. The findings of this study will be used solely for academic and scientific purposes, contributing to the improvement of workplace safety and health for health care workers.




Publication History

Article published online:
13 March 2025

© 2025. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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