Educational Health Program for Veterinary Health Care Workers regarding Prevention of Physical, Chemical and Biological Hazards.

Abstract

Background: Veterinarians healthcare workers who interact with animals daily encounter an elevated risk of exposure to both known and as-yet-undiscovered microbial agents. Additionally, veterinarians’ healthcare workers are also exposed to physical, chemical, and environmental hazards. Aim: This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of an educational health Program for veterinary health care workers regarding prevention of physical, chemical, and biological hazards. Research design: A quasi-experimental design used to conduct this study. Setting: The study conducted at 50% Veterinary Health Units (8units) which will be selected randomly from the total number of all units (16 units) in Benha City. Sample: Convenience sample of 70 veterinary health care workers used in this study. Tools: Two tools were used; First tool: A structured interviewing questionnaire to assess socio demographic characteristics of veterinary health care workers, work characteristics, workers past exposure to physical, chemical, and biological hazards and workers' knowledge about health hazards related to working in veterinary health care units. Second tool: Observational checklist sheet to assess reported practices of veterinary health care workers regarding prevention of health hazards and reported environmental condition of veterinary health care unit. Results: This study revealed that, 80.0% of the studied veterinary health care workers' age ranged from 40 to less than 50 years old with mean age ±SD 46.42±4.72 years, and before the program, 10.0% of healthcare workers demonstrated good knowledge about health hazards, which increased significantly to 72.9% post-program implementation. Also, only 15.7% of workers practiced dealing with animals, which significantly increased to 85.7% post-program implementation. Conclusion: It was concluded that a statistically significant difference was observed in the knowledge and practices of veterinary healthcare workers concerning physical, chemical, and biological hazards before and after the implementation of the educational program. Recommendations: Conduct studies across various regions to generalize findings and assess the long-term effects of training programs.