Title : Occupational health and safety of Hong Kong nursing students during clinical placement: A study tool development
Abstract:
Background: Various stakeholders in Hong Kong are working towards a healthy and safe environment for employees. A high turnover among nurses in the healthcare sector is exposing nursing students to a high risk of occupational hazard. This paper shares the design of a study tool to explore the needs of nursing students during their clinical placements by surveying their concerns about, and awareness and knowledge of occupational health and safety.
Method: This questionnaire was adapted from an original self-developed questionnaire. An expert panel was invited to validate the content. A Microsoft Forms online questionnaire was created and tested for software cross- platform compliance. The tool was trialed on nursing students who were recruited at random from the canteens of different clinical sites.
Results: The study tool was successfully trialed with nursing students. While the data indicated that most pre-nursing degree students were satisfied with the occupational health service support and claimed a high awareness and use of these services, a significant minority reported fewer positive experiences. The content validity index of the tool was 0.96. The online questionnaire was tested to prove its user interface, functionality and data validity on the most common configurations of software and hardware.
Conclusion: A modified questionnaire was refined, with input from experts and feedback from nursing students. This study can inform nurse training institutions, clinical placement managers and Government on how to maintain and improve occupational health and safety practices for nursing students on clinical placement.
