Human factors and ergonomics in safety management in healthcare: building new relationships
¹Tallinn Health Care College, Kännu 67, EE13418 Tallinn, Estonia
²Tallinn University of Technology, Ehitajate 5, EE19086 Tallinn, Estonia
*Correspondence: jaana.sepp@ttk.ee
Abstract:
Human factors are playing an essential role in ensuring occupational health and safety at work. In the healthcare sector, relevant factors include optimizing the interaction of humans with their technical, social working environment, and human characteristics such as knowledge and motivation. Those factors affect the ability to provide good quality of healthcare and safety performance. The aim of this paper is to analyse factors related to safety knowledge, communication and professional competence among caregivers in nursing homes. A group of professionals studied (n = 241, includes nurses and caregivers) completed a validated questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and correlation analyses were applied, using SPSS Statistics 24.
Our study revealed that over half of the respondents possess an occupational certificate and the majority of employers organize regular in-service training at workplaces. Respondents who claimed that in-service trainings are not regular still stated that they generally receive safety and ergonomic related trainings, trainings for working with special equipment. However, only a quarter of respondents have access to occupational safety trainings that focus on specific risks at work.
Based on the results of the study, we emphasize the need of integrating human factors in the safety management system in nursing homes with a special focus on adequate safety training in order to develop necessary skills and knowledge of workers. This would enhance employees’ ability to cope successfully with the elderly and people with special needs, to provide safe and high-quality care as well as confidence and the knowledge how successfully they manage conflicts in order to keep good relationships at work.
Key words:
competences, healthcare, training, workplace safety