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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Panayota Sourtzi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Sector of Public Health, Department of Nursing, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Interests: occupational and environmental health and nursing; health promotion of the working population; older workers

Dr. Petros Galanis

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor

Clinical Epidemiology Laboratory, Faculty of Nursing, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, P.C. 11527 Athens, Greece
Interests: research methodology; evidence-based nursing; clinical epidemiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Venetia Sofia Velonaki

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor

Sector of Public Health, Department of Nursing, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Health Sciences, Athens, Greece
Interests: health education; health literacy; bioethics nursing ethics and law; vulnerable populations

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Occupational hazards—physical, biological, chemical, psychosocial, and ergonomic—exist in every workplace in various combinations. Work practices change over time and new hazards may appear, but old ones still exist and some of them may become even more dangerous causing work-related diseases and injuries. Risk assessment for reducing or eliminating workplace or job-related hazards is a vital process that should consider not only existing legislation and related policies but also the worker’s view. Employee and employer risk perception and knowledge, as well as an observance of proposed solutions aimed at improvements for both the workers’ health and the work environment, is of paramount importance.

Recent changes in work practices caused by the pandemic, such as teleworking for a large part of the workforce, have introduced additional changes in work-related hazards including ergonomic, psychosocial, and organizational ones that give the opportunity to revisit occupational health practices. The role of occupational health practitioners in this environment gives new challenges for confronting health risks for workers’ health and wellbeing.

The aim of the Special Issue is to invite submissions—original articles, reviews, and meta-analyses—that have assessed the impact of occupational hazards on the health of the workforce and/or evaluated interventions, including change in policies, that could improve the workforce health as well as have a positive impact on the work environment.

Prof. Dr. Panayota Sourtzi
Guest Editor

Dr. Petros Galanis
Dr. Venetia Sofia Velonaki
Co-Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

occupational hazards
emerging occupational hazards
health risks assessment
health risks control and reduction
health risks perception and knowledge
occupational health surveillance
prevention of occupational health risks
health protection in the workplace
workplace health promotion strategies
workplace health promotion evaluation
ethical dilemmas in risk assessment
ethical dilemmas in worker health surveillance.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 1043 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Changes in Baropodometric Evaluation and Discomfort during the Workday in Assembly-Line Workers

by Juan Rabal-Pelay, Cristina Cimarras-Otal, Belén Lacárcel-Tejero, Andrés Alcázar-Crevillén, José Antonio Villalba-Ruete, César Berzosa and Ana Vanessa Bataller-Cervero

Healthcare 2024, 12(7), 761; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12070761 - 31 Mar 2024

Viewed by 545

Abstract

Prolonged standing at work is associated with health risks. The appearance of lower-limb and lower-back discomfort is one of the most prevalent factors in prolonged standing workers. The aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of an eight-hour workday on foot pressure and musculoskeletal discomfort in standing workers. Thirty-six assembly-line workers (six women) were recruited to participate in a cross-sectional study to assess foot pressure and surface, foot, knee, and lower-back discomfort before and after a real workday. Baropodometry outcomes (surface and pressure) were evaluated by the pressure platform SensorMedica and musculoskeletal discomfort was evaluated by Cornell’s Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionaire. Total foot surface (p = 0.01) and foot discomfort (p = 0.03) increased significantly at the end of the workday. Prolonged standing during 8 h workday increased the foot discomfort and total foot surface in assembly-line workers. No foot pressure variable (forefoot, rearfoot, or total) was significantly modified after the workday in assembly-line workers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Risks in the Work Environment: Assessment and Improvement)

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Review

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42 pages, 1105 KiB

Open AccessReview

by Veronica Bessone, Daniel B. Roppenecker and Sven Adamsen

Healthcare 2024, 12(9), 885; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12090885 - 24 Apr 2024

Abstract

Endoscopy-related musculoskeletal injuries (ERIs) are frequent among gastrointestinal, pulmonary, nasal, and urologic endoscopists, impacting the healthcare system. The present review aims to compare the ERI rates, risk factors, and ergonomic recommendations in the different endoscopic fields. A review was conducted using PubMed and Cochrane Library for articles based on surveys and published until 10 January 2024. Demographic, work, and ERI data from 46 publications were included, covering 10,539 responders. The ERI incidence ranged between 14% and 97%, highlighting the need of intervention independent of the specialties. The neck, back, and shoulder were the most frequent ERI locations, while gender, age, years of experience, and procedure volume the most common risk factors. Ergonomic recommendations suggest concentrating on endoscope design changes, especially in gastrointestinal endoscopy, to increase the comfort, adaptability of the equipment in the operating room, and workflow/institutional policy changes. The inclusion of an ergonomic timeout guarantees the correct equipment positioning, the neutralisation of the endoscopist’s posture, and an indirect break between procedures. Ergonomic training to increase awareness and best practice should be promoted, also using new technologies. Future research should concentrate on intervention and comparative studies to evaluate to which extent prevention measures and newly designed equipment could reduce ERI incidence. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Risks in the Work Environment: Assessment and Improvement)

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