Working conditions and perception of occupational risks of the staff of a clinical laboratory in Managua, Nicaragua, January 2023

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to identify the working conditions and perception of occupational risks of the personnel in a clinical laboratory in the city of Managua during January 2023. It is a descriptive study with a cross-sectional quantitative approach where the study area was the laboratory itself. The universe and the sample were 15 collaborators from different work areas. A structured questionnaire survey with closed questions was applied to the collaborators, in which they were asked about the social and labor factors, as well as their perception of the risks (physical, chemical, biological, psychosocial and ergonomic). A structured checklist was used based on the observation of the structures and conditions of the clinical laboratory in the different areas evaluated. Inferential statistics were used for the perception of risk level by means of Pearson’s Chi-square descriptive statistical method. The data analysis of the socio-labor characteristics showed that the majority of the population is female, aged 20 to 30 years, and most of them have been working for 2 to 5 years. The different areas (86.7%) comply with biosafety standards. Most of the collaborators perceived all the risks, with greater frequency in the medical care and laboratory areas, with a predominance in both of them of the biological risk, due to exposure to body fluids. In relation to risk perception, biological risk predominated (high level), followed by ergonomic and psychosocial risk (moderate risks), with physical and chemical risks rated as low risk. Significance was only observed when contrasting the biological risk with the working conditions present, related to the occupational risks involved in the handling of diverse biological material and samples typical of this type of activity.