Prevalence and Factors Associated with #eedle Stick Injuries among Registered #urses in Public Sector Tertiary Care Hospitals of Pakistan

Background: Needle stick injuries remain the main cause of Hep B, Hep C and HIV which lead to mortality and morbidity in health care providers especially in nurses all over the world. Although needle stick injuries have been well studied in developed countries, data from developing countries is limited. Aim & Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of needle stick injuries among nurses and its associated factors in public sector tertiary care hospitals of Pakistan. Methods: This cross sectional survey was conducted in 3 major tertiary care hospitals of Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Study duration was from March 2010 to May 2010 (3 months). Two Hundred and Sixteen (216) nurses were selected by simple random sampling with proportionate sampling. All those registered nurses who were working in allied hospitals of Rawalpindi and involved in clinical work were included, while all those who were on administrative positions, students, retired or on maternity leave were excluded from the study. Pre structured questionnaire was used and data was collected by questionnaire having optional choices and few open ended questions. The questionnaire was piloted among thirty nurses in a tertiary care hospital and their comments were incorporated accordingly to redesign the final questionnaire. The data was analysed using SPSS 16. Results: Sixty Seven (67%) of nurses got needle stick injury during job. Almost all (99%) nurses said that they didn’t report their injury because of no reporting system in their hospital (p value < 0.05). Injection and needles (72%) are the most injury causing instrument and needle stick injuries mostly occurred (81%) at bedside and ward (p value < 0.05)). Sixty six percent (66%) of nurses said that they didn’t attended any educational session, seminar or workshop related to needle stick injuries during their job. Conclusion: The frequency of needle stick injuries among nurses is quite high in public sector hospitals of Rawalpindi Pakistan. Non-reporting and less health education are the main factors leading to needle stick injuries.