Sharp instrument injuries among hospital healthcare workers in mainland China: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

ObjectivesTo determine the prevalence of sharp instrument injuries in hospital-based healthcare workers (HCWs) in mainland China and the contributing factors.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingThe data were derived from public hospitals.ParticipantsA total of 360 hospitals were recruited in the study, including 289 general hospitals and 71 specialised hospitals. Among them, 194 are tertiary-level hospitals and 166 are secondary level. The study population finally consisted of 223 149 hospital HCWs.Primary outcome measuresA questionnaire was designed based on the aim of the study. Profession of HCWs, workplace, circumstance and medical apparatus and instrument were covered in the survey. HCWs completed a self-administered questionnaire regarding details of sharp instrument injuries within the previous month. Prevalence estimates for the injuries were calculated for the overall HCWs and for subgroups according to profession, workplace, circumstance or instrument.ResultsWithin the included HCWs, the prevalence of sharp instrument injuries was 0.08 per person-month. Only 4.6% of the HCWs reported to their hospitals after injury. The highest number of injuries occurred in nursing staff (10.3%). Injuries took place most frequently on general wards (44.5%). The circumstances that involved most frequent injuries include surgical needle insertion, removing an arteriovenous needle from a patient and recapping the needle. Single-use syringe caused more injuries incidents than other instruments.ConclusionsThese results indicate that sharp instrument injuries have become a major occupational problem of HCWs in mainland China. Attentions need to be paid to the issue and strategies for preventing such injuries are needed.

Insulin-Injection-related Needle-stick Injuries Among Clinical Nurses at a Tertiary-Care Hospital in China

“…In the present survey, 16.0% of nurses reported experiencing at least one insulin-injection-related NSI, which is lower than the rates found by Zhao et al [16] (39.1%), Dong et al [8] (19.33%), and Costigliola et al [9] (32%). Two large-scale surveys in China found that the overall incidence rates of NSIs among nurses were 7.8% [17] and 10.3% [17,18], which are lower than the rate found in this study. These discrepancies in the incidence of NSIs among different studies may be related to factors such as the included hospitals and countries [19]; however, overall the results of the various studies show that there is a relatively high incidence of NSIs caused by insulin injection among clinical nurses [20].…”

“…In the present study, 75% of the devices had been contaminated when an insulin-injection-related NSI occurred, which is similar to the findings of previous NSI surveys conducted in Korea [33] (60.6%) and China [18] (77.5%). More than two-thirds of insulin-injection-related NSIs experienced by clinical nurses involved contaminated sharps.…”

Needlestick and sharps injuries in an Indonesian tertiary teaching hospital from 2014 to 2017: a cohort study

“…The majority of the injuries were largely due to hollowbore needle injuries (66.7%), mainly disposable syringes (45.5%), which is consistent with the results of many previous studies. 14 20 23 25 Recapping practices resulted in some NSSIs in our study. Due to limited resources at the hospital, safety-engineered devices (SEDs) were rarely used.…”

Needle Stick Injuries among Health Care Workers in AL-Madinah AL-Munawara Governmental Hospitals in Saudi Arabia

“…In recent decades, occupational exposure among healthcare workers (HCWs) has increased. HCWs are frequently exposed to medical sharp instruments (Huang et al, 2017). Needle stick injuries (NSIs) are one of the most common hazards for HCWs, particularly nurses (Tawil, 2016).…”