Sharp injuries in clinical practice among nursing students of Da Nang University of Medical Technology and Pharmacy

Abstract

Background: While studying at the hospital, nursing students are at risk of getting sharp instrument injuries during clinical practice. The likelihood of being injured by sharp instruments in nursing students is very high due to prolonged clinical practice in medical facilities, working in new environments, lacking of experiences and concentration. Our study aimed to detect the prevalence of students injuring by sharp instruments in clinical practice and related factors influencing this rate. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 400 nursing students going for clinical practice from January 2018 to May 2018 at Da Nang University of Medical Technology and Pharmacy. Data were collected through self-filled questionnaires. Results: Our study showed that 71% of students were hurt by sharp instruments. The number of injuries including 1 time, 2 times, 3 times and more than 3 times accounted for 14.8%, 18.7%, 19.7% and 46.8%, respectively. Fingers were the most frequently damaged position (74.7% of the total number of injured cases), the rest were hands, toes and feet with 22.9%, 1.5% and 0.9%, respectively. Regarding workplaces where the injury occurred, the Faculty of Internal Medicine (42.8%) was the most common place of occurrence, followed by Department of Surgery (32.8%), Rehabilitation Department (8.6%); Department of Pediatrics (7.9%) and Emergency Department (7.9%). In which, 70.4% occurred at the patient room, 20.3% at the injection room and 9.3% at the waste collection. The proportion of students injured when removing needle cap was 9.5%, covering needle cap was 24.4%, breaking ampoule was 40.1%, infusing, collecting venous blood and disposing of sharp instruments were 16.9%, 2.3% and 6.8%, respectively. There was a significant relationship between the proportion of sharp instruments injuries and students' learning ranking, trained on using sharp instruments safely and student’s knowledge about sharp instruments (p<0.05). Conclusions: The proportion of nursing students injured by sharp instruments was significantly high and associated with students' learning ranking, training about sharp instruments safety and qualified knowledge about sharp instruments.