NEEDLE STICK AND SHARPS INJURIES;

Background: This study, therefore aims to assess the frequency and the factorscontributing to the needle stick injuries among health care workers of a tertiary care privatehospital of Lahore. Setting: Shalamar Hospital Lahore, Pakistan a tertiary care private institution.Period: July and August 2015. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: A modifiedstructured pre-tested questionnaire containing both open and close-ended questions wasadministered to 160 study participants. The selected candidates were thoroughly briefed aboutthe study and informed consent was obtained. Confidentiality and anonymity of the participantswas maintained. Data entry was done on SPSS version 20 for Microsoft Windows. Results: Theresponse rate was 97%. Among all respondents (n=122), almost 41% (n= 63) were medicaldoctors and 34% (n= 53) were nursing staff. A small proportion of 4% (n= 6) belonged to thedental surgical background as well. Of all the surveyed participants, 45% (n=69) had eversuffered from needle stick/ sharps injury during their medical job and career, whereas, 34%(n=53) had suffered from a needle stick injury during the last year. Nearly 63% (n=47) reportedthat the cause of injury was accidental, 16% (n=25) acknowledged lack of awareness, 7%(n=10) acknowledged improper equipment and 4% (n=6) accused lack of training as the majorcause of needle stick injuries. A hefty 34% (n=53) believed that there existed no protocols in theinstitution regarding needle stick injuries, while another 50% (n=78) stated that they were notaware of the hospital protocols regarding needle stick injuries if there existed any. A disturbing34% (n=53) assume that they should recap the needles after using them. There was a strongstatistical association p<.001 between establishment of hospital protocols regarding needlestick or sharps injury and an event of needle stick injury suffered by the health care workersduring last year. Conclusion: The needle stick injuries can be prevented by the eradication ofhazard causing equipment’s, prevention through engineering measures, administrative controlsand last but not the least personal protective measures.