Abstract
Background: Injection is one of the most frequently used medical methods to introduce drugs or other substances into the body for purposes of treatment or prevention. Unsafe injection can cause adverse outcomes, such as abscess and anaphylactic shock, and increases the risk of blood-borne transmission of viruses to patients and health care workers, as well as the community. Recognizing the importance of injection safety, in 2000 the Vietnamese Ministry of Health (MOH) collaborated with the Vietnam Nurses Association to launch the “Safe injection” program throughout the country, including Hanoi. Methods: This cross-sectional study, combining quantitative and qualitative analysis, was conducted from February to August 2012 in Ha Dong General Hospital using a structured questionnaire and observation checklist. The target population of the study was 109 nurses working in clinical departments and 436 injections were observed. Results: The percentage of nurses who are familiar with injection safety standards was found to be 82.6%. The proportion of practical injections that met the 23 standards of injection safety set by the MOH amounted to 22.2%. The factors related to safe injection practice of nurses who are younger age group (OR=3.1; p<0.05) and lower amount of working years (OR=2.8; p<0.05). Conclusions: Despite the high level of knowledge about safety injection, a low proportion of nurses performed correct safety injection practice. Moreover, the results demonstrated that experience might not always guarantee better practice. The findings raise the need for further training about this issue, especially among older nurses.
Highlights
Injection plays an important role in medical treatment at hospitals and other medical institutions, especially those where many patients with serious health conditions are treated[1]
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 50% of injections performed in developing countries are unsafe, and that as many as 20–80% of cases of hepatitis B virus infections are caused by unsafe injections[2,5]
This leading causes related to this low rate of safe injections are: nurses working in understaffed conditions, updated information on injection safety not being conveyed to nurses, noncompliance of technical procedures, and poor infection control operations in injection practices and sample handling, as well as poor management of sharp medical wastes[13,14]
Summary
Injection plays an important role in medical treatment at hospitals and other medical institutions, especially those where many patients with serious health conditions are treated[1]. In Vietnam, realizing the importance of safe injection and the risks caused by unsafe injections, in 2000, the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Vietnam Nurses Association, launched and implemented the “Safe injection” program across the country[7]. Results from some studies after this program was launched show that the rate of injections complying with adequate injection safety standards are not high enough, ranging from 6.0 to 22.6%7–12 This leading causes related to this low rate of safe injections are: nurses working in understaffed conditions, updated information on injection safety not being conveyed to nurses, noncompliance of technical procedures, and poor infection control operations in injection practices and sample handling, as well as poor management of sharp medical wastes[13,14]. The findings raise the need for further training about this issue, especially among older nurses
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