A study on the prevalence of needle stick injuries among health-care workers of a tertiary care hospital in Aligarh

Abstract

Context: Globally, the reporting on the incidents of needle stick injuries (NSI) is far below the actual, and in hospitals which depend on their normal reporting systems, this figure may be up to ten times lower. NSIs can serve as a source of life-threatening infections; therefore, an insight into various factors that lead to it, along with the knowledge regarding prophylactic measures is important. Aim: The study aimed to develop an understanding of the causes and probability of NSI and knowledge of prophylactic measures among health-care workers (HCWs). Settings and Design: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted. Subjects and Methods: A structured questionnaire was developed for the study. Statistical Analysis Used: IBM Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS), v22.0 was used. Results: A total of 255 HCW were recruited, which consisted of 129 doctors, 110 nurses, and 16 laboratory assistants. The results of the study found that 36.1% of the HCW suffered from NSI. Of the total reported needlestick injuries, the maximum was among the doctors and in the age group of 22–30 years. Only 35.9% had reported the incident. Injuries were mostly sustained to the fingers occurred during use in the morning shift. Majority of the HCW were aware of HBV transmissibility and were vaccinated against it. Although a substantial number (162) of HCW were aware to take post-exposure prophylaxis against HBV and HIV within 72 h, only 12% took prophylactic treatment against HIV. Conclusions: NSI prevention strategies should be strictly implemented at the workplace and followed during procedures.