Risk Factors Contributing to Needle Stick Injuries: Nurses' Self Reporting

Abstract

Needle stick injuries remain a common factor in exposure of healthcare workers especially nurses to blood-borne viruses. Objective: To assess risk factors contributing to needle stick injuries reported by nurses. Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted. Setting: This study was conducted in three University Hospitals: Alexandria, Beni-Suef and Aswan. Subjects: 300 nurses (100 nurses from each hospital) working in the previously mentioned setting was taken represent different medical-surgical departments and outpatient clinics. Tool: Two tools was developed by the researchers in order to collect pertinent data in this study [10,13]. Tool I: Assessment interview qeustionnair sheet, it includes; Part I: Socio-demographic characteristics of nurses, Part II: Nurses' Knowledge Regarding Needle Stick Injuries. Tool II: Risk Factors Associated to Needle stick injuries, it includes Part I: Factors related to Nurses and part II: Factors related to organization. Results: The main results revealed that the most common factors contributed to Needle stick injuries were presence of stressors inside work, no hospital protocol regarding Needle stick injuries process management, lack of continuity of supervision regarding Needle stick injuries and lack of training about how to avoid Needle stick injuries respectively. Conclusion: The occurrence of Needle stick injuries is most often encountered among nurses in a heavy work area full of stressors in the absence of hospital protocol, supervision, and training program regarding Needle stick injuries prevention. Recommendation: Additional educational & training programs, regular reporting protocol, follow up and assessment of exposures are recommended for all nurses in the community involved in this study.