[Work-related diseases among health care workers]

Health care workers are at risk of various work-related diseases such as infectious diseases, mental distress, and back pain. Such diseases could threaten patients either directly, such as a patient becoming infected with tuberculosis by a health care worker, or indirectly, such as a depressed health care worker making an error in the administration of medication. Recently, hospitals have attempted to reduce the risk of these disorders to prevent the occurrence of such events, and health care workers have begun to recognize the importance of prevention. However, occupational health services in hospitals still need to be made a top priority in health policy, to prevent the incidence of work-related diseases in health care workers and to reduce medical errors. In addition, the fostering of specialists in occupational health services who are specifically trained to care for health care workers is of paramount importance.