Assessment of workload effect on nursing occupational accidents in hospitals of Kashan, Iran

Abstract

Background: Nurses often experience occupational accidents and injuries. The mental workload is one of the factors that often cause tiredness. Perilous behaviors possibly occur more in tired persons resulting in injuries. The aim of the study was to evaluate the correlation between mental workload and nursing occupational accidents in public hospitals of Kashan, as well as factors affecting them. Methods: The analytic-descriptive study described herein consisted of nursing staff from public hospitals of Kashan, Iran. Information was collected using a three-part questionnaire from a selected clustery of 406 nursing personnel in 2016. The questionnaire was used to collect demographics, assess mental workload (per the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX)), and assess frequency of accidents. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 16. Results: A total of 455 occupational accidents were recorded for 2016 with about 2.27±1.21 accidents per nurse. The minimum and maximum scores for frustration and effort were 47.82 ± 30.91 and 78.61 ± 18.15, respectively. The mental workload mean was calculated as 69.49 ± 15.69. In total, 120 (32%) nurses experienced occupational accidents. There was a significant positive correlation between mental workload, mental need and physical need with occupational accidents (P<0.05). Conclusion: Occupational accidents are affected by mental workload. Taking actions to decline mental workload may result in a decrease of occupational accidents.