Study of behavioral and psychosocial factors relating to needle stick injuries in nursing staff of a tertiary care cancer hospital of Punjab, India

Ananya Arora; Sanjay Biswas; Vandita Pahwa; Naveen Bansal; Sneha Verghese; Nancy Rodrigues; Ashish Gulia; Jigeeshu Divatia; Rahat Brar; Sankalp Sancheti; Charu Singh; Aman Saxena

doi:10.18502/ijm.v16i2.15353

Ananya Arora Department of Microbiology, Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Punjab, India
Sanjay Biswas Department of Microbiology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India
Vandita Pahwa Department of Preventive Oncology, Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Punjab, India
Naveen Bansal Department of Transfusion Medicine, Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Punjab, India
Sneha Verghese Department of Nursing, Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Punjab, India
Nancy Rodrigues Department of Nursing, Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Punjab, India
Ashish Gulia Department of Surgical Oncology, Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Punjab, India
Jigeeshu Divatia Department of Anaesthesia, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India
Rahat Brar Department of Radiodiagnosis, Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Punjab, India
Sankalp Sancheti Department of Oncopathology, Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Punjab, India
Charu Singh Department of Microbiology, Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Punjab, India
Aman Saxena Department of Microbiology, Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Punjab, India

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/ijm.v16i2.15353

Keywords: Needle stick injury; HIV; HCV; HBV; Health care worker; Occupational injury

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Needle stick injury (NSI) is the most dreaded occupational health hazard affecting a health- care worker (HCW) psychologically and physically. The risk of infection post needle stick injury ranges between 1.9% to greater than 40% for HBV infections, 2.7-10% for HCV and 0.2-0.44% for HIV infections. As per National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) records, nursing staff is at highest risk (43%) followed by physicians (28%). The main objective of this study was to evaluate knowledge of nursing staff about needle stick injuries and to study factors leading to such incidents in their working areas, impart them knowledge regarding the same and fill gaps in knowledge.

Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional retrospective analysis involving nursing staff and students. p values were calculated using SPSS software.

Results: Overall NSI prevalence among nursing staff and students was 51.6% whereas in more exposed and less exposed group was 47.45% and 10.16% respectively (p=0.2056). The most common cause of NSI incident was recapping of needle (38.5%) followed by transferring needle to sharp container (35%).

Conclusion: Consequences of NSI are serious and this study has tried to emphasize on the need to study the factors leading to NSI.