Needle stick injuries represent a hazardous occupational incident threatening health care worker with serious consequences in many instances. The actual magnitude of the problem is not well known due to inadequate reporting of these incidents. Aim of the study: The study aimed to investigating the epidemiology of needle stick injuries among health care workers in general hospital in Al Madinah Al Munawara, KSA.
Methodology
Through a cross sectional study, a representative sample of health care workers (n=268) were selected randomly from three general hospital in Al Madinah Al Munawara, 219 responded to a predesigned questionnaire reflecting exposure to NSI, reporting, post exposure reactions and knowledge about NSI.
Results
Almost one third of the participating medical professionals 70 (32%) had been exposed to stick injury during work. One half of the needles (52.9%) were blood stained. Nurses are significantly more likely to have stick injury (38.6%) followed by physicians (30.4%) if compared to lab technicians (13.9%) p<0.05. The main purposes during injuries were drawing blood sample 33(47.1%), injection 31(44.3%) and suturing 23(32.9%). Almost all injured personnel (97.1%) cleaned the injury site immediately and thoroughly. Out of the injured personnel, 50(71.4%) reported the incident to authorities. A significantly higher proportion of physicians (91.3%) achieved above average score if compared to both lab technicians (72.2%) and nurses (76.3%) p<0.05.
Conclusion
Occupational needle stick injuries are fairly common among health care workers in governmental hospitals at Al Madinah Al Munawara. Deliberate efforts should be made to ensure adherence to safety guidelines governing needle stick injuries in hospitals.