Background: An occupational injury is any personal injury, disease, or death resulting from an occupational accident, work-related injuries and represents a major occupational health hazard in most countries due to multiple factors. Occupational injury among healthcare professionals is a very common occurrence in the medical industry, as the workplace, especially hospitals, exposes them to injuries because of the presence of different types of occupational hazards, but such information is limited in this study area. Therefore, this study aims to assess occupational injuries, identifying associated factors among health workers and its implications for individuals and healthcare systems in Bench Sheko Zone, South West People's Regional State, Ethiopia. Method: An institution-based cross-sectional study design was conducted in the Bench Sheko Zone, Southwest Ethiopia, from March to April 2023. A total of 310 healthcare professionals were involved in the study. The collected data were entered into Epi Data Manager V4.6.0.6 and exported into SPSS for analysis. Descriptive statistics is used to descrive study variables. A logistic regression model was used to identify the factors associated with occupational injuries and a multivariable analysis was used to identify the predictors of occupational injuries at a significant level of a 95% CI and a p-value of <0.05. Result: Prevalence of occupational injury among healthcare professionals in public health facilities was 41.3%. Moving heavy objects including patients AOR: 2.11 95% CI (1.07-4.13), improper disposal of sharps AOR: 10.28 95% CI (5.46-19.35), inadequate personal protective equipment AOR: 3.63 95% CI (1.60-8.21) and inadequate number of healthcare professionals AOR: 2.29: 95% CI (1.13-4.60) were factors significantly associated with occupational injuries in public health facilities. Conclusion: The prevalence of occupational injuries is high. Therefore, public health initiatives are essential for promoting injury prevention, advocating for stronger safety regulations, and ensuring equitable access to care and rehabilitation services for all workers.
Alemayehu et al. (Sat,) studied this question.