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http://www.webmedcentral.com/images/Header_Logo.giftext/html2015-09-26T12:20:44+01:00http://www.webmedcentral.com/Dr. Deepak BandlishThe prevalence of needle stick injury among healthcare personnel in a tertiary care hospital in Kolkata
http://www.webmedcentral.com/article_view/4983
Backdrop: Globally, NSIs are the most common source of occupational exposures to blood and the primary cause of blood-borne infections of HCWs. The greatest threats are hepatitis B and C viruses followed by HIV. Studies from India have reported a high rate of NSI amongst resident doctors and nurses. The objective of this study was to find out the incidence of NSI and their predictive factors amongst Health care workers in a tertiary care hospital in Kolkata.
Methods: This study was carried out among the HCWs (both males and females) of the IPGMER & SSKM Hospital, Kolkata, a tertiary care, teaching hospital in West Bengal, India. The study was carried out over a span of three months from November 2014 to January 2015 with the help of a questionnaire designed to identify the rates and predictive factors associated with needle stick injury.
Results: A total of 283/374(75.7%) HCWs gave the history of a Needle Stick Injury (NSI) in the past one year. The highest rates of NSI were found amongst the junior residents (73.4%) and nurses (71.6%) followed by interns (70.1%). NSI reported amongst senior residents, laboratory technicians and undergraduate students were 63.2%, 66.7% and 54.2% respectively. The most common activities causing NSI were found to be recapping the needles and blood sampling across all groups of HCWs. The practice of recapping needles was seen in 48.9% of HCWs and bending the needles after use was confirmed by 28.7% of HCWs. Amongst the HCWs, 63 per cent held themselves responsible, 16 per cent held the patient responsible, while 21 percent held the poor working conditions/long working hours responsible for the NSI.
Conclusion: A lot needs to be done to improve the situation including institution of safety protocols, mandatory reporting of NSI and diligent record maintenance. Authorities should direct the efforts towards training of HCWs, use of safety engineered devices (SED) and decreasing patient load per HCW as these steps are most likely to benefit the existing situation.