(ECNS) -- A report on nurses in China said that about 79 percent of health service workers suffer injuries from sharp tools and over half have psychological trauma, the two leading occupational hazards.
The report jointly released on Wednesday by the China Social Welfare Foundation, the Nurses Caring Plan and other groups investigated 51,406 people, including nurses who are in service or retired, as well as those in charge of nursing majors at schools and head nurses in hospitals.
It showed that violence against medical workers and occupational injuries are top concerns among them.
Of nurses still working, 79 percent said they have been injured by sharp tools. Some 68.5 percent of those who left the occupation had the same experiences. In addition to mental scars (51.2 percent), other hazards identified were noise, exposure to ultraviolet light, dust pollution and infection.
The report said 38 percent of employers do not provide effective preventive supplies for nurses and 44.6 percent pay little or no attention to risks posed to nurses.
It also found that 41.2 percent of nurses have been the target of aggressive behavior from patients or their family members in the past year.
According to the report, 80.7 percent said they highly value being respected and 92 percent thought they have low social status. Over 83 percent said they didn't feel they were respected by patients and 90 percent saw their job as not appreciated by society.
Managers need to pay more attention to the psychological requirements of nurses and should help them better cope with mental stress, it was added.
