Needlestick Injuries Among Nurses of Fars Province, Iran
Introduction
The World Health Organization has identified that 16 billion healthcare injections administered annually in its developing and transitional member states that injections are unnecessary (1). Unless this level of hypodermic needle use is reduced, needlestick and sharp injuries (NSIs) will not only remain a potentially life-threatening occupational injuries for healthcare workers (HCWs), but NSI will increase in frequency. Presently, countries in which the healthcare system has low or varying resources have a prevalence of NSI in HCWs ranging from high to epidemic; 27% to 31% of HCWs in Nigeria (2) reported sustaining an NSI, 35.6% of HCWs in Egypt (3), 63.0% in north India (4), 87.3% to 93.2% in Taiwan (5), and 82.0% in China (6). Student nurses are not protected from NSI, with endemic rates reported in north India (3) at 48.1%, 61.9% in Taiwan (7), and 71.1% in Iran (8).
The probability of a hollow-bore needle being contaminated with a life-threatening infection is high in these countries because of their endemic levels of bloodborne pathogens. The model developed by Kane et al. (9) applied conservatively to world census data identified that unsafe injection practices could result in 8 million to 16 million persons acquiring hepatitis B virus (HBV), 2.3 million to 4.7 million hepatitis C virus (HCV), and 80,000 to 160,000 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections. In Taiwan the proportion of patients with active HBV infection was 16.7%, up to 12.7% of patients have HCV infection, and up to 0.8% HIV infection (4). Projections have been made for seroconversions in Egyptian HCWs who sustain an NSI, with 24,004 estimated new HCV infections and 8,717 new HBV infections (5). Estimated seroconversions of HCWs in western Turkey from an NSI is 1.4% for HBV and 7.9% for HCV (10).
We report the first estimates of the magnitude and predictors of NSI in nurses from the Fars province of Iran.
Section snippets
Setting
A cross-sectional survey of nursing staff was conducted in university hospitals in Fars province, which serve as referral centers for about one fourth of all patients in Iran. The Fars province is one of 30 provinces, located in the south of Iran; it has 52 hospitals (17 private and 35 governmental) under the supervision of the Shiraz University of Medical Science. All but two hospitals in the Fars province, both located in the cities of Jahrom and Fasa, were included in the study because
Results
The majority, 77% (95% confidence interval [95 CI] 74.8%–79.0%) of nurses were female whose ages ranged from 18 to 63 years, with a mean age of 31.0 years (± 8.5 years) (Table 1). Female nurses were significantly younger (31.5 ± 7.81 years,, p < 0.001) than male nurses (37.8 ± 9.6 years). Postgraduate period and years of service both ranged from less than 12 months to 40 years (mean: 9.5 years from postgraduate period, 7.0 years for years of service). Male nurses had a significantly longer
Discussion
In the 12 months preceding the study, just over one fourth, 26.3%, of our nursing staff had sustained at least one NSI, of whom 75% had sustained up to 4. We restricted our analysis to a maximum of 4 injuries in the previous 12-month period in an attempt to improve the reliability of recall. In doing so, our NSI rate is a conservative estimate and will be artificially lower than the level documented for Nigeria (2), 31%, Turkey (10), 62%, India (3), 72%, China, 82%, and Taiwan (4), 93.2%,
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The prevalence of nosocomial infection rates and needle sticks injuries at a teaching hospital, during 2013–2014
2020, Clinical Epidemiology and Global HealthCitation Excerpt :Our results indicated that nurses were at the highest risk of NSIs compared to other HCW groups (n = 24, 34.28%) during 2013–2014. This observation is in agreement with the findings of Gholami et al.73 and Martins et al.74 However, the incidence of NSIs reported by nurses in our survey was considerably lower than those in Askarian's study in the Fars province of Iran (49.6%),75 Smith's study in Japan (46%)72 and Smith's study in Korea (79.7%).76 Another study reported that doctors were the most frequent NSIs (64.7%), followed by waste workers (25.5%) and nurses (7.8%).77
Assessment of injection practice in primary health care facilities of Shiraz, Iran
2014, American Journal of Infection ControlCitation Excerpt :The number of NSI per injection provider in Shiraz was 37%, which is lower than a previous study conducted in the same province. In that study, 50% of hospital-based nurses recalled a NSI incident.18 This higher reported NSI probably is due to types of patients treated and the manner in which treatment is afforded in hospitals as compared with primary health care facilities.
Incidence of ambulatory care visits after needlestick and sharps injuries among Healthcare workers in taiwan: A nationwide populationbased study
2014, Kaohsiung Journal of Medical SciencesCitation Excerpt :Nurse healthcare workers (NHCWs) use sharp objects such as syringes with needles and pill cutters, and perform blood extractions and administer subcutaneous, intramuscular, and intravenous injections. As a consequence, NHCWs are susceptible to NSIs, particularly at times when they may lack concentration or fail to perform relevant techniques proficiently [10,11]. In addition, numerous reports have indicated that NHCWs are at higher risk than non-nurse healthcare workers (NNHCWs) [10,12–16].
Incidence of needlestick injury among healthcare workers in western India
2023, Indian Journal of Medical Research