Publication:

Assess the prevalence of needle stick injury in a tertiary care hospital in Western Maharashtra

Background A needlestick injury is a penetration of the skin by a needle or other sharp object that has been in contact with another person’s blood, tissue or other body fluid before the injury. A retrospective record based cross sectional study was conducted among healthcare workers at a tertiary care hospital to study the prevalence, demography and epidemiology of needlestick injuries.

Methods A retrospective observational study among the health care workers at a tertiary care facility in Western Maharashtra was conducted over a 12-month period. Data from 51 reported NSI cases was tabulated and analyzed for socio-demographic and epidemiological details.

Results The overall needlestick injuries prevalence among the 331 healthcare workers was 15.40%. Nurses were the most affected healthcare worker group (43.1%). Injuries most commonly occurred during injection administration (27.5%) using hollow bore needles (78.4%). Most injuries were superficial (74.5%) and occurred while wearing a single pair of gloves (70.6%). A statistically significant association was observed between job category and gender (p=0.022), type of contact (p=0.020), purpose of needle used (p=0.014) and glove usage (p=0.000). No significant differences were found based on age or gender alone.

Conclusions The study found a 15.4% prevalence of needlestick injuries among healthcare workers. Nurses were the most affected while administering injections with hollow bore needles. Focused training, robust reporting and post-exposure management are essential to reduce occurrence of needlestick injuries.