Occupational Exposures to Needle stick and Sharp Injury and Blood/Body Fluid Splash and Determinants Among Health Care Workers at Selected Hospitals In Addis Ababa
Creators: name: Adugna, Getachew
Publisher: name: National Academic Digital Repository of Ethiopia
Year: 2019

description: Background: Needlestick injuries, sharps injuries, and blood/body fluid splash are hazards to health care professionals in their working area. Around twenty bloodborne pathogens are known to be transmitted through these occupational injuries. This problem alters the health status of health care professionals (HCPs) in different ways, including physically, mentally, and psychologically. Even though HCPs are affected at a high rate, there is a low injury report to a higher level. Objective: To assess the prevalence of occupational exposure to needlestick injuries, Sharp injuries, and body fluid splash with their determinants among health care professionals of governmental hospitals in Addis Ababa. Methods: Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted by self-administered questionnaire among health care professionals in six selected hospitals. Data was collected from March 2019 to April 2019, with the study sample size of 438. Six government hospitals selected via simple random sampling (lottery method) from twelve hospitals. Data were gathered using a self-administered questionnaire. SPSS version 25 used for data analysis. The type of analysis was bivariate and multivariate logistic regression with 95% confidence interval. Results: Overall, one-year burden of occupational exposure to Needle stick injury (NSI), Sharp injury (SI), and Blood and body fluid splashes (BBFs) were 141 (33.3%), 90 (21.2%) and 198 (46.7%) respectively. Maximum occurrence of NSI, SI, or BBFs reported from Emergency 104(36.4%) and Inpatient departments 101(35.3%). Higher exposure of NSI, SI and BBFs were reported by nurses, 58.2%, 62.2%, and 54.6% respectively, while midwifery professionals had twelve times more possible exposure of BBFs (AOR 11.89 95% CI 1.25-112.7) compared to Physicians, Nurses, Health officers, and Laboratory Technicians. Study participants who had not training on infection prevention and safety practice were positively associated to NSI (AOR 3.4, 95% CI 1.5-7.5), SI (AOR 3.02, 95% CI 1.17-7.73) and BBFs (AOR 4.27, 95% CI 1.94-9.41). The likelihood of reporting NSI (AOR 2.6, 95% CI 1.3-5.3) and SI (AOR 3.97, 95% CI 1.86-8.47) significantly increased among single in marital status. Participants who had job-related stress were two times more likely encountered to NSI, SI, and BBFs, (AOR 2.23, 95% CI 1.14-4.35), (AOR 2.07, 95% CI 1.033-4.15) and (AOR 2.18, 95% CI 1.07-4.49), respectively. Respondents who dissatisfied on their job were nearly three times more likely to sustain NSI and SI (AOR 2.85, 95% CI 1.4-5.8) and (AOR 2.36, 95% CI 1.11- 4.99) respectively. HCPs who worked in shift were twice likely to expose to BBFs (AOR 2.36, 95% CI 1.0345.4). Conclusion and recommendation: The burden of needlestick injuries, sharps injuries, and blood/body fluid splash were high. Unsafe practice and not applying universal precautions were also considerably high. Formal training on infection prevention and safety practice and continuous supportive monitoring to health care professionals from the concerned bodies is recommended to prevent prevalent occupational exposures to needlestick, sharps injuries, and blood/body fluid splash.