Occupational Exposure to Blood and Body Fluids among Health Care Workers in Gondar Town, Northwest Ethiopia: A Result from Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background. Health care workers are at the greatest risk of developing blood-borne diseases through occupational exposure to blood and other contaminated body fluids. Occupational exposure to blood and body fluids (BBFs) continues to be the major public health problems and serious concern for the health care force in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was aimed to determine the prevalence of exposure to blood and other body fluids and its associated risk factors among health care workers. Methods. The institution-based cross-sectional study design was employed from January 20 to February 30, 2018. A stratified random sampling followed by a simple random sampling technique was used to select 286 study participants. Data were collected using a pretested and structured questionnaire. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to identify factors associated with occupational exposure to BBFs. The significance level was obtained at a 95% confidence interval (CI) and p value ≤ 0.05. Results. The prevalence of occupational exposure to blood and body fluids among health care workers in the last 12 months was 65.3% (95% CI: 59.4, 70.9). Lack of readily available personal protective equipment (adjusted odds ratio (AOR)) = 3.01, 95% CI: 1.56, 5.84), lack of training (AOR = 3.36, 95% CI: 1.1, 11.2), Khat chewing (AOR = 2.74, 95% CI: 1.3, 5.8), and being a medical doctor (AOR = 5.1, 95% CI: 1.68, 15.21) were significantly associated risk factors with occupational exposure to blood and other body fluids. Conclusions. In this study, occupational exposure to blood and other body fluids among health care workers remains a major health problem. Hence, ensuring the availability of personal protective equipment, developing strategies on banning, and strict monitoring of Khat chewing and training on infection prevention should be emphasized to minimize the problem.

Occupational Exposure to Blood and Body Fluids Among Nurses in Public Hospitals of the Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Cross-sectional Study

“…This implies that a higher proportion of nurses are exposed to BBFs at the ED and ICU. The one-year exposure to BBFs is comparable with the study that was reported from India (68.64%), Tanzania (63%), Nigeria (68%), Gondar town (65.3%), and Mizan Tepi University (65.3%) (4,14,(19)(20)(21). However, the result is much higher than the study conducted in Turkey (13.7%), Iran (34.7%), Australia (48.1%), South Africa (21.9%), Kenia (22%), Tunisia (25.6%), Haramaya University (36.1%), Debre Berhan University (32.8%), and Arada sub-city health center, Addis Ababa (40%) (22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30).…”

“…The consequences of exposure to BBFs comprise the transmission of various types of pathogens like hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), human immune de ciency virus (HIV), and other bloodborne pathogens that result in systemic and localized site infection (4,5). Furthermore, nerve damage from a needle stick may occur, as well as the possibility of the needle breaking off into the skin.…”

Worldwide Prevalence of Occupational Exposure to Needle Stick Injury among Healthcare Workers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…A total of 10,233 healthcare workers were included in 18 studies, of which were conducted in 14 countries [ 16 , 25 – 41 ]: three articles [ 29 , 33 , 41 ] in Iran, two in Ethiopia [ 27 , 36 ], two in India [ 28 , 39 ], and one (5.55%) in other countries such as Nigeria [ 30 ], USA [ 25 ], China [ 31 ], Serbia [ 26 ], Saudi Arabia [ 32 ], Bangalore [ 34 ], Thailand [ 16 ], Australia [ 35 ], Bosnia and Herzegovina [ 37 ], Tanzania [ 38 ], and Switzerland [ 40 ].…”

“…Among the included articles, 6 articles [ 26 – 30 , 33 ] reported both prevalence of NSIs in career time and previous one year, while 6 [ 25 , 31 , 32 , 36 , 37 , 41 ] and 6 [ 16 , 34 , 35 , 38 – 40 ] of articles reported career time alone and previous one-year prevalence of NSIs alone, respectively. Most ( 5 (83.3%)) of the included articles [ 16 , 26 – 34 , 36 – 39 , 41 ] were conducted in the developing countries, while the rest of the studies [ 25 , 35 , 40 ] were in a developed country ( Table 1 ).…”

The Status of Sharp Injury and Risk Factors among Health Care Staffs in the Bule Hora Hospital, South Ethiopia, 2020

“…This is much lower than the study carried out in Tanzania (82.5%) and Kenya (91.5%) [15,17].This considerable difference may be due to awareness regarding screening sources after exposure, fear of discrimination by colleagues, and less concern to infection transmitted via needle stick injury. [12,13,15,17]. This is due to the fact that lack of training increases the chances of exposure to sharp hazard.…”