Nutrition quality is an important factor for in-patients, hence hospitals need to pay attention to food handling practices, including people that have to touch the food.
“The low practice of nutrition medic of a hospital in individual hygiene and the lack of monitoring of work procedures have increased the risk of transmission of pathogen in food,” said Daru Lestantyo in his doctoral promotion at Faculty of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing UGM on Thursday (29/3).
In food processing area, it has been determined the extent of hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) concept as procedures of monitoring of food production to prevent product contamination from surrounding factors. But a limitation in the HACCP is the unavailability of human factor as a risk factor of contamination.
Daru explained the practice of worker towards safe food processing is influential to the quality of food and prevention of nosocomial infection. Pathogenic bacteria from the palm of the hand would transmit through contact with food which is potential to cause digestive tract infection in the patient that consumes it.
“Maltreatment of food processing contributes as high as 97% to the causes of foodborne diseases. So knowledge, attitude, and practices of food safety and hygiene are very influential,” said the lecturer from Universitas Diponegoro in Semarang, Central Java.
Food processing treatment, in his opinion, can integrate well with occupational safety and health programme of the hospital, remembering the basics and components that have similarities with some aspects of occupational safety and health programme. This, however, requires support from the hospital management, including the provision of protective tools or training facilities.
He added the low commitment of hospital would affect in the level of obedience and increased risk of accident or cause of occupational disease. Besides, the worker’s health history, personal hygiene, and surrounding health condition in the hospital were influential components to determine health status or risk.
The research he conducted showed training intervention and safety briefing do have effects in the average score increase of attitude of those that touch the food, although not all significant statistically. Hence, he suggested this project can be done measurably.
“Hospitals need to do evaluation of training and safety briefing measurably to improve the behaviour of safe food handling. Examination of the health of hospital workers also need to be done based on occupational risk assessment,” said Daru.