Needlestick Injuries among Sixth-year Pharm. D Students during Pharmaceutical Care Clerkships: a Survey Study

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of needlestick injuries and the activity related to needlestick injuries among the pharmacy students. It also explored the knowledge source of needlestick management. Methods: Sixth year pharmacy students being trained for 6 clerkships from March to December 2013 were surveyed using a self-administrating questionnaire. Results: Among totally 138 clerkships of 23 pharmacy students, 4 cases (17.4%) had actual events of needlestick injury and the prevalence of injury per clerkship was estimated to be 2.9% (n=138). Specifically, the prevalence of injury with high risk of bloodborne diseases (n=2) was 8.7% per person and 1.4% per clerkship. Out of the 138 rotations, there were 45 rotations that were associated with needlestick. 28 activities were classified as activities with high risk of bloodborne diseases (62.2%), including a fingerstrip capillary blood glucose monitoring (n=22) and insulin injection demonstration (n=6). Only 3 cases out of 23 students (13.0%) reported that they had knowledge of needlestick injury obtained from literatures or preceptors prior to the practice. Conclusions: The fingerstrip blood glucose monitoring and insulin administration were the activities mostly related to needlestick injury. Therefore, the pharmacy students should be trained and educated on the occupational injuries prior to the clinical clerkships.