Needlestick injuries among healthcare workers of a tertiary care hospital in South India

Sharp injuries and their relationship with stress among nurses working in acute care settings

BACKGROUND

Sharp injuries are common reasons for the transmission of blood-borne diseases in acute care settings. Fear of sharp injuries and their consequences can expose nurses to high levels of stress (sharp injuries stress).

AIM

To examine the occurrence of sharp injuries and to assess their relationship with stress among nurses working in acute care settings.

DESIGN

This was a cross-sectional study.

METHODS

A total of 150 nurses working in 10 acute care settings in two selected hospitals in Alexandria, Egypt, were selected as the population of this study. Data on the occurrence of sharp injuries were collected using a sharp injuries circumstances questionnaire (including questions regarding number, instrument and reasons/procedures that caused sharp injuries, etc.), and two scales were used to measure sharp injuries stress (the Impact of Event Scale-Revised and the Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome Questions Inventory).

RESULTS

More than 13% of nurses experienced sharp injuries, and 25% of injuries were caused by contaminated instruments. Sharp injuries stress scores were high in nurses, with 65% of nurses experiencing sharp injuries and 30.8% of nurses who did not experience sharp injuries having high Impact of Event Scale-Revised scores. In addition, 45% of nurses who experienced sharp injuries and 15.39% of nurses who did not experience sharp injuries had high Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome Questions Inventory (PTSSQI) scores. There was a significant relationship between the occurrence of sharp injuries and stress scales at P < .05.

CONCLUSIONS

Nurses are exposed to sharp injuries, leading to sharp injury stress pre- and post-occurrence of injuries. Sharp injuries stress can make nurses prone to Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSS).

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Factors that lead to the occurrence of sharp injuries and sharp injuries stress should be investigated, and a psychological rehabilitation unit should be instituted to help nurses working in acute care settings deal with the sharp injuries-related stressors they are facing.

Relationship between psychosocial working conditions, stress perception, and needle-stick injury among healthcare workers in Shanghai

Background

The present study aims to identify the association between psychosocial working conditions, global stress perception, and needle-stick injury among Chinese healthcare workers. It also endeavors to detect the mediating effects of global stress perception.

Methods

A total of 1956 valid samples were collected from eight teaching hospitals in Shanghai, China. A self-reported questionnaire was administered to participants after obtaining their written consent. Structural equation model was used to analyze the relationship between study variables.

Results

Most of the correlation coefficients between psychosocial conditions at work, stress perception, and needle-stick injury are of statistical significance ranging from 0.004 to 0.869. Results of the internal consistency test shows that Cronbach’s α is between 0.770 and 0.925. All three models for effect analysis demonstrated satisfactory global goodness and acceptable path loadings. Psychosocial working conditions and stress perception were directly associated with events of needle-stick injury, as 0.39 (95%CI: 0.32 to 0.48) and 0.32 (95%CI: 0.22 to 0.39), respectively. Furthermore, stress perception had been proved to have a mediating effect (0.25, 95%CI: 0.19 to 0.31) between psychosocial working condition and needle-stick injury, which occupied over one-third of the total effect.

Conclusions

Both stressful psychosocial working conditions and negative stress perception could increase the risk of needle-stick injury that occurs among healthcare workers. Management of stress perception could reduce health risk brought by stressful psychosocial working conditions.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-019-7181-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Needle-Stick Injuries Among Healthcare Workers in a Teaching Hospital

Background:

Needle-Stick Injuries (NSIs) are among the hazards and problems that can expose health workers to infections.

Objectives:

This study aimed to determine the rate of NSIs in a teaching hospital in Tehran, Iran.

Materials and Methods:

This cross-sectional, analytical and descriptive study was conducted at one of the teaching hospitals in Tehran, Iran, in 2013. The study population was 344 employees in various occupational groups selected via census. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using some statistical tests, including independent-samples t-test with SPSS software version 21.0.

Results:

The results showed that only 50.2% of injuries had been reported; 67.8% of all participants (n = 211) had at least one NSI. Most NSIs had been reported in the emergency department (33.5%). Most participants mentioned the injection syringe needles as the main cause of their injuries (71.1% of all NSIs). Among NSIs, those caused by insulin syringe needles (6.2%) were the second cause. In this study, females had NSIs more than males. There was a statistically significant relationship between sex and the rate of NSIs (P < 0.05).

Conclusions:

Considering the high rate of occupational injuries, further preventive measures should be implemented to prevent these injuries from occurring. Providing initial and continuing training for employees is very important. Directing special attention to emergency department employees may be effective in reducing occupational injuries.