Sickness absence is particularly pronounced within health care organizations where job demands and work environment expose workers to an increased risk of illness and injury, potentially leading to an inability to attend work. Health Care Workers (HCWs), especially nurses who are primarily responsible for front-line patient care, are at high risk of acquiring infections from direct patient contact. In addition, there is greater risk of exposure to contaminated human blood and body fluids.
Objective
1) To identify and describe Occupational Health visits (overall and specific conditions) among full-time Kingston General Hospital employees, according to frequency, duration, workplace variables and seasonality. 2) To consider the association between absenteeism and HCW exposure risk to infectious diseases based on a proxy variable defining level of patient contact. 3) To examine the potential for integration of this occupational health data stream into an existing Emergency Department Syndromic Surveillance system.