Health problems of health-care providers need to be addressed. Health issues among people are different for different professions. People working in hospital settings suffer from different physical and psychological health problems directly or indirectly. A hospital is where sick people with different disabilities and diseases are. Furthermore, staff or professionals working with such populations are at higher risk for developing different disturbances in their health.
Following are the problems healthcare provider face during their professional life.
Varicose veins:(Health problems of Healthcare providers)
In hospital duty most of the staff do not get time to sit and lie down .prolong standing duty hours, especially during surgeries in operation theaters lead a person toward causing pooling of blood in the lower part of the body and continuously exerting pressure on legs and blood pooling in vein cause varicose veins in healthcare providers.
How can varicose veins be prevented during long-standing duty hours?
Mental Health Issues:
Healthcare providers work in areas where they are dealing with life-and-death situations, traumatic situations, and patients with prolonged disabilities. Witnessing such traumatic situations dealing with patients losing their lives and witnessing families losing their loved ones creates a very negative impact on the emotions of healthcare providers. Furthermore, these kinds of scenarios lead healthcare providers toward depression. Moreover, healthcare providers such as oncology nurses and doctors who are dealing with cancer patients are at high risk of developing depression and anxiety disorders because they are continuously dealing with people of different ages such as young children and adults suffering from life and death situations.
Gastrointestinal issues:
Healthcare providers usually suffer from gastrointestinal issues such as gastric burning and constipation. This is because they do not eat properly. Moreover, they do not get time to eat or drink during busy duty hours. This leads to poor gut health, especially constipation, due to inadequate food timings and low fluid intake.
Kidney problems:
Most people working in hospital settings are more prone to kidney stones due to lower water intake during prolonged busy duty hours.
Exposure to radiation and cytotoxic drugs:
People working with medicine such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy are in danger of having diseases such as cancer or some other health issues like infertility, miscarriages, and birth defects in offspring. Moreover, staff directly handling such as staff nurses who are injecting the medicine and housekeeping staff who deal with the bins containing the empty vials or drips and cleanings are at greater risk of exposure to cytotoxic drugs and radioactive materials.
disturbed sleep pattern;
Sleep disturbance is a major issue in a hospital setting. Staff working shifting duties do not get proper time to relax. They have to wake up the whole night and sleep in the day and vice versa. Moreover, shift turnover such as day and night duties has a great impact on nutritional and hormonal imbalances. which further leads to many other health issues.
Skin problems: Health problems of Healthcare providers:
Most of the Healthcare providers suffer from skin problems which may include acne, pimples, and dry skin. The main reason behind as the hospital environment is full of infections everywhere. So, healthcare providers get skin infections. Another reason is inadequate diet and fluid intake. This may be due to busy duty hours due to which caretakers could not be able to take proper breaks for relaxation and food.
High risk for getting hospital-acquired infections:
As a hospital is the place of infections and germs. People working in such environments and dealing with patients with contagious infections are at higher risk of getting infections. Furthermore, needle stick injuries are very common in dealing with patients. If the patient has an infection such as hepatitis C or HIV AIDS or any other blood-borne infection healthcare providers can easily be the victim of the disease due to needle prick. So, extra precautions should be taken to prevent the injuries.
How you can prevent needle stick injuries?
The following steps should be followed to prevent needle stick injuries.
- Do not recap the needle after use.
- Always keep the sharps in a sharp container in a designated place.
- Teaching pamphlets should be displayed containing needle stick injury instructions.
What to do in case of needle stick injury? (Health problems of Healthcare providers)
In case of needle stick injury do the following steps
- Keep the affected area under running water
- Do not press the finger or the affected area it creates a vacuum space inside the tissue and the blood could retain it which could be the infected blood.
- Immediately inform supervisors or seniors on duty so, that you would be treated as per the hospital policy.
Disturbed social life:
Another major problem with the hospital staff is disturbed social life. As most of the health care settings lack maximum staff that leads to extra burden on the available working staff. This may lead to a disturbed social life. Staff on night duties could not be able to enjoy events in their life.
Burnout: Health issues of Healthcare providers:
Turnover of staff is so much in the healthcare industry, staff shortage in public and private sectors is a major problem, secondly, innovations in the healthcare industry put an extra burden on staff working with patients. The staff has to fulfill patients’ demands as well as organizational policies and learning and adjustments with innovations put an extra burden on staff that leads to burnout and exhaustion.
Low vitamin D level and osteoporosis:
Inadequate exposure to the sun due to prolonged duty hours in hospitals and sleeping the whole day inside houses leads to decreased vitamin D levels in healthcare professionals. Decreased vitamin D levels lead to osteoporosis and depression.
In the end, the hospital environment is not safe for staff whether it’s a doctor, nurse, or all other paramedic staff. Hospital management should take proper measures for the well-being of their staff. Policies and procedures should be simple to carry out to prevent burnout among staff. Attractive health insurance should be provided to staff. So, staff could easily approach to health facility within their working place to prevent further deterioration of their health. The hospital environment should be friendly and supportive for healthcare workers to prevent the impact of the hospital environment on their mental health.
