Tibbi-i-kar

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Introduction: Emergency personnel are usually exposed to needle stick injuries (NSI) and contamination with HBV, HCV & HIV. The cost of health and psychological effects of such injuries demonstrates the importance of evaluating its risk factors and preventing it. One of these factors is job stress. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among emergency personnel of 4 university hospitals in Tehran in 2008 - 2009. A triplex questionnaire was used including demographic features, Nordique psychological stress questionnaire and SPSS (Ver. 11) was used for analysis of the data. Results: Tree hundred and fifty respondents including 162 (46.3%) males and 188 (53.7%) women, with an average age of 30±5.6 years including 146 residents (41.7%),43 interns (12.3%) & 161 nurses (46%) entered the study. Sixty nine persons (19.7%) reported a history of NSI and 99 persons (28.3%) had Blood and Body fluid exposure during last 3 months.158 persons (45.1%) were classified as low, 158 (45.1%) as moderate and 34 (9.8%) as severe stress level. there was not any significant difference between the proportion of NSI in different stress levels (P=0.374), but there was a significant difference in NSI proportion between nurses, and interns, residents (P=0.002). Conclusion: This study demonstrates that the frequency of NSI & BBFE in emergency personnel is significant, especially in residents. So it’s necessary to have a program for reducing it. The stress level didn't influence the rate of NSI. We suggest doing a survey to study the relationship between NSI and job stress factors (such as workload, role ambiguity) separately.

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Introduction: occupational stress identified as imbalance between occupational needs with individual’s abilities & demands. Occupational stress has somatic, psychological and behavioral effects. It seems that medical students have more severe degrees of occupational stress because of long period of education and mandatory presence in clinical and hospital environment. The goal of this study was evaluate of occupational stress and influencing factor in medical students of Iran University of medical science in two major categories of basic science and clinical medicine. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 516 medical students with history of at least 3 months of medical education in 2010. Evaluation of occupational stress was conducted using osipow questionnaire (ά=0.83). Results: From 650 students that entered the study, 516 student answered to questionnaire (response rate=80%). The average of stress score is 132 in basic science and 157 in clinical group. We have increasing total stress scores in students with higher education levels. Stress in older students was higher than younger students. Also, Stress was higher in smokers’ students and who have history use of sedative drugs. The stress was increased significantly based on educational years. Conclusion: According to higher levels of total stress score in students with higher levels of education, establishment of stress management courses in faculty of medicine and familiarization of medical students with occupational stress and coping methods may be useful for modification of occupational stress in these students

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Assessment of occupational stress in taxi drivers and its relation with cardiovascular risk factors

Farzane Rahimpour (MD) ¹, Lida Jarahi (PhD) ² , Ehsan Rafeemanesh (MD) ³, Atefe Taghati (MD) ^*4

¹ Assistant professor, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

² Assistant professor, Addiction Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

³ Assistant professor, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

⁴ Resident of Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

Received: 22 Jan 2015                                                                   Accepted: 12 May 2015

Abstract

Introduction: Occupational stress is caused by job itself or it's related environment that leads to several somatic diseases such as cardiovascular disorders or psychosomatic diseases. This study aimed to evaluate the relation between stress level and some cardiovascular risk factors among taxi drivers.

Method: This is a cross-sectional study on 330 taxi drivers. Demographic and occupational data and cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure, triglyceride, cholesterol, fasting blood sugar, smoking and body mass index were recorded in a check-list and standard Osipow questionnaire was used to score the stress level. ANOVA , Kruskal wallis and logestic regression test were used for data analysis and P- value less than 0.05 was considered as significant difference.

Results: Mean Stress score and standard deviation were 167.24±65.12 that one hundred and forthy individuals(%42.4) were in low stress group, 61 individuals(%18.5) in low to moderate group, 22 individuals(%6.7) in moderate to severe group and 107 individuals(%32.4) in severe group. Comparing mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure, cholesterol, triglyceride, fasting blood sugar and BMI among four subgroups of stress revealed significant difference, but we didn't observe any relation between  smoking and stress score(P=0.88). The effect of stress on cholesterol and triglyceride and BMI after control of confounding factors (age, educathon, shift work and income) was significant (TG: p<0.001, OR=1.01, Chol: p<0.001, OR=1.02, BMI: p<0.001, OR=1.01). But there was no significant relationship between stress and SBP, DBP, FBS and smoking.

Conclusion: According to the significant correlation between stress level and cardiovascular risk factors in the taxi drivers, we suggest screening this risk factors and training the taxi drivers for prevention and control of stress fact

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Background: Train driver is a job with a high level of occupational stress. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness mindfulness-based stress reduction on occupational stress and general health among train drivers.
Method: This study was a quasi-experimental pretest - posttest with control group. Utilization of voluntary sampling method, 30 people were selected among the train drivers in Kashan City and were assigned into two experimental and control groups. The experimental group received 8 sessions of mindfulness based stress reduction. General health questionnaire and occupational stress questionnaires (Devis & et al) were also used to collect data.
Results: In terms of occupational stress, the mean scores of the experimental and control groups in the pretest stage were 32.27 and 34.63, respectively. Meanwhile, the mean scores of the experimental and control group in the posttest stage were 24.86 and 34.17, respectively. In terms of general health, the mean scores of the experimental and control groups at the pretest were 26.14 and 28.34, respectively. In the meantime, the mean scores of the mentioned groups in the posttest stage were 19.23 and 27.98. In other words, mindfulness based on stress reduction had effect on increasing the general health and reducing occupational stress.
Conclusion: According to the research findings, mindfulness based stress reduction is an appropriate intervention to reduce occupational stress and it is effective in increasing mental health of train drivers.
 

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Introduction: Nurses play a critical role in the health of society. Previous studies have reported a high level of occupational stress in the nursing community. Therefore, the present study investigates the relationship between demographic characteristics and job stress on nurses' workability. 
Materials and Methods: 408 nurses participated in this cross-sectional descriptive study. Data were collected using a demographic information questionnaire, nurses' job stress scale (NSS), and work ability index (WAI). SPSS version 24 statistical software and independent t-tests, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Pearson correlation were used for data analysis. The significance level in the present study was considered less than 0.05. 
Results: The mean and standard deviation of the age of the nurses was 33.6 ± 5.1 years. 78.2% of the participants (319 nurses) were women, and the rest were men. 68.7% of female nurses (280 people) were married. Nurses had high job stress and poor workability. A significant negative relationship was observed between job stress and nurses' workability (P<0.001). Age and work experience had a negative significant relationship with occupational stress and a positive significant relationship with workability. Also, nurses with higher education had lower job stress and higher workability. 
Conclusion: Considering the negative impact of occupational stress on the nurses' workability, it is suggested that the relevant managers identify and eliminate the factors that cause occupational stress to maintain health, improve the ability to work, and increase the productivity of nurses, to reduce the amount of occupational stress and improve the workability of nurses.  
 

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Introduction: Construction industries have a complex nature, so they have a high rate of occupational accidents. Construction workers are known as one of the most stressful jobs. In addition to the mental health of employees, occupational stress also has a negative effect on the safety of the workplace. The present study investigates occupational accidents and job stress in a construction company and its relationship with the demographic characteristics of employees. 
Materials and Methods: In the present study, occupational accident reports in a construction company were examined. After removing the incomplete reports, the information on 100 accidents such as the type of accident, the cause of the accident, the consequence of the accident, and the person who experienced the accident was collected. After collecting the accident data, the job stress of the injured employee was checked using the Osipow Job Stress Questionnaire. Data analysis was done in SPSS-24 software.  
Results: The results showed that slipping and falling from a height had the highest frequency (41%), and electrocution had the lowest frequency (8%) among the accidents. The majority of the injured employees (96%) were placed in the moderate to severe stress group. No significant relationship was found between occupational accidents and demographic variables (P>0.05). Also, a positive and significant relationship was found between job experience and job stress (P<0.05). 
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that it is necessary to take safety measures to reduce fall accidents. Due to the negative effects of occupational stress, it is recommended to implement measures such as developing a training program and holding stress management workshops, increasing organizational support, and identifying and adjusting stress sources.