Needle Stick and Sharp Injuries and Associated Factors among Nurses Working In Jimma University Specialized Hospital, South West Ethiopia

Introduction: Needle Stick and Sharp Injuries (NSSIs) are the commonest rout by which blood borne infections such as HIV, HBV and HCV can transmit. Such infections serve as high occupational risks and threats to health professionals. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of Needle stick and sharp injuries and associated factors among nurses working in Jimma University Specialized Hospital, South West Ethiopia. Methods: An institutional based cross sectional study design was employed among nurses with at least one year work experience in Jimma University Specialized Hospital from March 31 to April 04, 2014. A total of 173 study subjects were selected using simple random sampling technique from sampling frame using lottery method. Data was collected using pretested English version questionnaire through self-administered interview. To maintain the quality of data pretesting and supervision of data collection process was done. The collected data were checked for completeness, edited and entered into EpiData version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 21.00 for analysis. To explain the study variables descriptive statistics was used. Association between dependent and independent variables was calculated using chi square test. P-value of less than 0.05 was considered as significant association. Results: Out of the total 173 study subjects, 170 were included in the final analysis and giving a response rate of 98.3%. Majority of the study subjects 95 (55.88%) were female nurses. This study indicate that nurses’ sex, monthly salary, marital status, work experience, working Unit/department/, training on IP and patent safety, presence of contaminated needle and sharps materials in the working area, job satisfaction, level of job stress on nurse respondents, use of personal protective and gloves during the practice work by needles/sharps and recapping of needles after use had significant association with the occurrence of sharp and needle stick injury in nurses. In general this study revealed that no single factor accounted for the occurrence of NSSIs. Conclusion and recommendation: This study demonstrated a relatively high prevalence of NSSIs among nurses of JUSTH. The high prevalence of NSSIs highlights the need for developing effective preventing strategies. Training of nurses should be emphasized and essential in preventing high NSSIs risks in the hospital.