Occupational blood exposure beyond needle stick injuries: hospital-based cross-sectional study among healthcare workers in governmental hospitals of Northern Ethiopia

Semere Reda,Chala Daba,Mistir Lingerew,Mesfin Gebrehiwot,Metadel Adane,Alelgne Feleke,Amanuel Atamo,Birhanu Wagaye,Awoke Keleb,Tefera Chane Mekonnen

doi:10.1186/s12913-021-07167-9

Abstract

BackgroundOccupational blood exposure is one of the major public health problems that healthcare workers (HCWs) are encountering. Most previous occupational blood exposure studies are delimited to needle stick injury, which could underestimate the real level of blood exposure. On the other hand, others deal with crude blood and body-fluids exposure, which possibly overestimate the magnitude of blood exposure. Therefore, this study aimed at determining the prevalence of occupational blood exposure and identifying associated factors among HCWs in the Southern Tigrai zone governmental hospitals of Northern Ethiopia considering all the potential means of blood exposure (needle stick injury, sharp medical equipment injury, and blood splash) while excluding blood-free body-fluids.MethodsA hospital based cross-sectional study design was employed to gather data from randomly selected HCWs in three governmental hospitals from February to March, 2020. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to identify the independent factors associated with the outcome variable.ResultsFrom the total of 318 HCWs, 148 (46.5 %) were exposed to blood at least once in their lifetime. Working for more than 40 h per week (AOR= 9.4; 95 % CI: 7.61, 11.41), lack of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) (AOR=3.88; 95 % CI: 1.64, 5.42), Hepatitis B virus vaccination (AOR=0.54; 95 % CI: 0.12,0.78), recapping used needle sticks (AOR=3.18; 95 % CI: 1.28, 8.83), and lack of infection prevention and patient safety (IPPS) training (AOR=13.5; 95 % CI: 8.12,19.11) were detected to significantly increase the likelihood of occupational blood exposure.ConclusionsAs nearly half of the HCWs were exposed to blood, reducing work load below 40 h per week by employing additional staff members, supplying adequate PPE, avoiding recapping of used needle sticks, and providing IPPS training for the HCWs should be practiced.

Highlights

Occupational blood exposure is one of the major public health problems that healthcare workers (HCWs) are encountering
Unintended exposure to blood might carry the risk of infection by various blood-borne viruses including Hepatitis B virus (HBV), Hepatitis C virus (HCV), and Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
A systematic review done on the occupational exposures of HCWs to body fluids in 21 African countries showed that the lifetime and one-year blood exposure were 5.7 % and 48 %, respectively [4]

Summary

Introduction

Occupational blood exposure is one of the major public health problems that healthcare workers (HCWs) are encountering. HCWs who experience occupational blood exposure go through some kinds of psychiatric problems, such as depression and associated post-traumatic stress disorder. The consequences of these effects include absenteeism and poor quality of healthcare service delivery to the community [2]. The estimated annual cost due to blood exposure could be 6-7 million dollars in Spain and 4-300 million euros in England. This estimation is based on the reported number of needle stick injuries in different countries and the exact cost still cannot be estimated as large numbers of incidents remain unreported [5]

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