The Role of Electronic Monitoring and Control Systems in Reducing Workplace Accidents in Healthcare Facilities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Occupational injuries in healthcare workers (HCWs), including needlestick injuries and falls, remain one of the critical workplace challenges. Despite a growing trend towards the implementation of Electronic Monitoring and Control Systems (EMCS) to increase safety, the existing literature does not offer a full-scale evaluation of its effects, especially in the context of the fast-developing sphere of Saudi Arabian healthcare, but instead, it tends to disregard the subjective opinions of the front-end staff. In line with this, the study objectively assessed how the application of EMCS and its implementation are correlated with the rate of accidents, studied the attitudes of HCW towards safety, and located various implementation barriers in Saudi hospitals. The study design was a mixed-methods, cross-sectional one in three tertiary care centers in Riyadh. The information was received with the help of the structured questionnaire, which was given to a stratified random sample of 400 clinical staff and was complemented by the in-depth interviews with 35 respondents. Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression were used in quantitative analysis. Findings showed a close, statistically significant, negative relationship between the level of implementing EMCS and self-reported rates of incidents (r = -0.71, p =.001). The regression analysis also showed that the level of EMCS is the salient independent predictor of incident reduction ( β = -0.59, p = 0.001) when adjusted by the department and experience. Qualitative results contributed to poor training (51% of interviewees) and workflow disturbance (46%) as the most common, and technical failures were related to the lowest perceived safety scores. The research finds that although EMCS are closely associated with better occupational safety, their effectiveness highly relies on comprehensive training and effective interconnectivity with the workflow, which justifies the use of a socio-technical implementation strategy.