Knowledge, Attitude and Practices among Health Care Workers on Needle-Stick Injuries

Abstract

Health care workers who have occupational exposure to blood are at increased risk for acquiring blood-borne infections. The level of risk depends on the number of patients with that infection in the health care facility and the precautions the health care workers observe while dealing these patients. There are more than 20 blood-borne diseases, but those of primary significance to health care workers are hepatitis due to either the hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) due to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The prevalence of HBsAg in healthy blood donors in Saudi Arabia ranges from 2.7% to 9.8%. Sero-prevalence studies suggest that the overall anti-HCV positivity is about 3.5% to 5%. Thalassemia and sickle cell disease are common in Saudi Arabia and prevalence of hepatitis C virus antibodies among this high-risk group is about 40%. The prevalence of HIV sero-positivity has been reported to be about 0.09% in the Kingdom. These figures suggest that a sizable number of individuals are a potential risk for transmission of blood-borne diseases to doctors, laboratory technicians, blood bank workers, nurses, personnel working in renal dialysis and transplant units, and other health care workers. The aim of our study was to assess the knowledge, and attitude among health care workers on needle stick injuries.