Accidentes laborales en veterinarios rurales

SIGNORINI, M.L.; MOLINERI, A.I.; PÉREZ, L.; TARABLA, H.D.

AVANCES EN CIENCIAS VETERINARIAS

Universidad de Chile

Lugar: Santiago de Chile; Año: 2014 vol. 29 p. 36 - 41

0716-260X

Veterinary practice is associated with many occupational hazards. The objectives of this study were to estimate the frequency of rural veterinarians having occupational accidents (OA), to describe the type of injury and the elements involved in the OA, its associated factors and days off work. A census was carried out in rural veterinarians (N = 741) attending mandatory continuous education meetings. The response rate to an anonymous structured questionnaire was 75.8% (n = 562). Data analysis included: χ2, Student t test, Pearson correlation coefficient and logistic regression. Ninety seven percent of respondents suffered OA during practice, 59.6% required medical care and 81.4% suffered some work related illness. Fifty two percent had at least one day off work due to OA (37.9 ± 51.7 days). Sex, age and years at work were significantly associated with the occurrence of OA in labore. on the bivariate analysis, but not in the multivariate analysis, probably due to the small number of veterinarians not having OA. Some characteristics of the respondents, the special nature of their patients, inappropriate on farm facilities and the need of constant travel in motor vehicles to contact patients may contribute to a high occupational risk.