<p>The Prevalence of Needlesticks and Sharp Injuries, and the Associated Factors Among Midwives and Nurses in North Wollo Zone Public Hospitals, North East Ethiopia: An Institution-based Cross-sectional Study</p>

Abstract

Background: Health professionals are at high risk of exposure for needlestick or sharp injury due to repeated exposure in clinical areas. This exposure leads to the acquiring of different infectious diseases like human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and other infectious diseases. Nurses and midwives having repeated exposure due to long working time, not wearing personal protective equipment, less work experience, and who are unable to apply infection prevention utilization guidelines are at high risk of needlestick and sharp injuries. Methods: An institutional-based, cross-sectional study design was conducted in North Wollo Zone public hospitals. A simple random sampling technique was applied to select study subjects. The method of data collection was self-administered questionnaires that are structured and pretested from February to March 2019. The data were analyzed using both descriptive and analytical statistics. Binary logistic regressions were used to test the association between variables. Then, P-value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant in this study. Results: Of the 147 respondents who participated in the study, 50.3% were female and 49.7% were male. The prevalence of needlestick and the sharp injuries was 75.5%. Recap practice of needle (AOR: 3.880; 95%CI: 1.666-9.036), working room (maternal care room) (AOR: 2.968; 95%CI: 1.012-8.703), and contagious room like emergency room (AOR: 3.587; 95%CI: 1.383-9.301) are significantly associated with needlestick and sharp injuries. Conclusion: This study showed that three-quarters of the study subjects were exposed to needlestick injury at least once in the past year. Needle recapping practice and working room were associated with needlestick and sharp injuries. Then, health personnel should avoid the practice of recapping a needle and tale care themself to avoid needle and sharp injuries in the workplace.

Prevalence of exposure to needle stick and sharp‐related injury and status of hepatitis B vaccination among healthcare workers: A cross‐sectional study

“…In contrast to our study, NSSI was not found to be significantly associated with the Nurses done in the study in Northeast Ethiopia. 14 The majority of incidents in our study occurred with hollow bore needles, consistent with other studies conducted in Nepal. 6 Mon et al, 2014 in their study report the same finding.…”

“…Notably nursing students accounted for the higher proportion of injuries in our study (35.5%) 13 . On the other hand, our finding was lower than a study conducted among midwives and nurses in Northeast Ethiopia, where 75.5% reported NSSI 14 . Additionally, the NSSI injury rate in our study was higher than a similar study conducted among HCWs in Nepal, which reported a prevalence of 37.6% of Needle stick injuries 15 .…”

Prevalence of Sharp Injuries and Associated Factors among Healthcare Workers in North Gondar (Debark), West Gondar (Metema), and South Gondar (Addis Zemen) Primary Hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia

“…However, the rate we obtained was higher than the 11.57% rate observed in Saudi Arabia (1) . Similarly, the rate of prevalence in our study was https://www.indjst.org/ lower than similar studies reported in Ethiopia and the prevalence of sharp injuries varied considerably across the different parts of Ethiopia; 29.5% in Northwestern Ethiopia (6) , 32.2%, Gambella town, Southwest Ethiopia (11) , 33.7% Western Ethiopia (9) , 34.5% in Dessie town, Northeast Ethiopia (10) , Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 36.2% (2) , 40.1% in Northeast Ethiopia (8) , 75.5% North Wollo Zone Public Hospitals, Northeast Ethiopia, (16) . This may be due to the number of HCWs in the facility, different work environments, and resource availability.…”

Needlestick Injuries among Nurses in Selangor Public Hospital, Malaysia

“…In addition, the actions of recapping a needle, transporting needles to be disposed of, drawing blood, or administering injections have been listed as the mechanisms leading to NSIs (Fadhli et al, 2018;Ishak, Haque, & Sadhra, S., 2019). A study conducted in Ethiopia also showed a significant association between NSI and the recapping of needles (Getie, Wondmieneh, & Tesfaw, 2020). Therefore, the correct practice must be emphasized whereby staff nurses dispose of needles or sharp devices in sharps bins instantly after use.…”