Giornale italiano di medicina del lavoro ed ergonomia
-
Organizational justice is a construct defining the quality of social interaction at work. Organizational justice can be divided into three categories: procedural justice (fairness of the decision-making procedures), distributive justice (fairness of outcomes) and relational justice (equity and fairness in the interpersonal treatment of employees by their supervisors). ⋯ Low perceived justice has been shown to be associated with experienced stress reactions and related physiological and behavioral reactions, such as inflammation, sleeping problems, cardiovascular regulation and cognitive impairments, and with a high rate of work absenteeism. This paper is a review of the literature on organizational justice and its impact on workers' health.
-
G Ital Med Lav Ergon · Jul 2010
[Family presence during cardiopulmonary resuscitation and other invasive procedures].
Family presence during patient cardiopulmonary resuscitation and other invasive procedures has been discussed and debated since the early 1990s. Although family presence was nor a well-practiced phenomenon, nor generally accepted, since the early to mid 1990s many American professional organizations have endorsed the idea of family presence. The aim of this study is to identify the policies, preferences, and practices of critical care and emergency personnel for having patients' families present during medical procedures and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. ⋯ Training programs aimed at disseminating knowledge about the relational aspects of health care and the development of written policies or guidelines for family presence during medical procedures are recommended.
-
G Ital Med Lav Ergon · Apr 2010
[Pulmonary concentration of asbestos fibers in steel workers with pleural mesothelioma].
The asbestos fibre burden of the lung has been used in the past as a biological indicator of cumulative exposure to the mineral so much so that in 1997 reference limits even for non-occupationally exposed people have been proposed. This kind of analysis was performed on groups of workers of different type of industries and allowed to achieve a qualitative-quantitative estimate of past exposure to asbestos, even in absence of exposure estimates by environmental monitoring. An important example is the steel industry where asbestos was widely used in the past, but for which there are not available exposure estimates of workers. ⋯ The results showed also that these concentrations can reach values that overlap with those found in asbestos-cement workers and in asbestos-textile workers. These data suggest to consider the cases of mesothelioma occurred in the steel workers at least as "possible" exposure, even in the absence of adequate information on the circumstances of contact with asbestos. This study, although based on a small number of cases, is the only one ever held in Italy on workers in this sector.
-
G Ital Med Lav Ergon · Apr 2009
[Contribution of ISPESL (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Prevention) for protecting workers from exposure to avian influenza].
Influenza virus A/H5N1 occurs mainly in birds, in which is highly contagious and deadly, and does not usually infect people. Most of the cases occurred in humans resulted from people having direct or close contact with H5N1 infected poultry or contaminated surfaces. The circulation of influenza viruses in birds, humans and other hosts represents a public and animal health threat, with important economic consequences. ⋯ Moreover documents were specifically prepared to keep specific categories of workers adequately informed on how to avoid or minimize exposure to the viruses. In accordance with the Italian Decree 626/94, recently amended by the Decree 81/08, regarding the protection of workers from risks related to exposure to biological agents at work, the Department of Occupational Medicine of ISPESL prepared one booklet directed to people working with poultry and, together with Corpo Nazionale Vigili del Fuoco, two booklets addressed to fire brigade who could be at various levels involved in outbreak disease control and eradication activities. In fact information and training are essential aspects of a global preventive and protective strategy.
-
G Ital Med Lav Ergon · Apr 2009
[Application of an integrated method for risk assessment of related work-stress in health care].
To assess the risk from exposure to occupational stress and burnout in health care workers (HCW), a cross-sectional study was planned to compare objective data that can represent potential job stressors in hospital wards and subjective symptoms reported by the workers. Medical doctors, nurses and ancillary workers of the Internal Medicine Wards of a large public hospital in Northern Italy were enrolled in the study. Three subjective questionnaires were administered: the Job Content Questionnaire, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Maslach Burnout Inventory. ⋯ The correlation analysis showed that the subjective questionnaires were highly inter-related. The multivariate analysis showed that the number of sick leave days was significantly related to the subjective questionnaires, and the subjective subscales of emotional exhaustion, job demand, decision latitude and STAIt were significantly related to some of the objective parameters. Therefore, the best approach to measure occupational stress is an integrated one, which involves the use of multiple subjective and objective assessment modalities.