Abstract

Personnel working in an endoscopy digestive laboratory may be exposed to a series of harmful factors to health. Among them, the most common are patients‘ biological waste, potentially infected with transmissible bacteria in the healthcare practices, chemicals used for cleaning and disinfection of the endoscopic equipment, which may determine allergies, radiation, different movements and postures, which by overload may determine musculoskeletal diseases. Selected protective equipment, used and removed properly protects the medical personnel of harmful factors at which may be exposed while working in digestive endoscopy laboratory. However, some studies made on digestive endoscopy personnel have shown a deficient conformation at standard precautions for the control of infections’ transmission, and other studies have shown that very few endoscopists have modified their activity with the purpose of preventing some maladies linked to occupational health.

In this paper we propose an overview of occupational pathology in digestive endoscopy, insisting upon description of harmful factors that may be exposed the medical staff working in a digestive endoscopy laboratory and of ways of diminishing the risk of developing various diseases. Romanian medical literature dedicated to occupational pathology in digestive endoscopy is very poor, which indirectly indicates the low level of awareness of this medical problem importance, in which, inadequate information merges with ignorance and legislative gaps.