BACKGROUND: Healthcare workers are at risk of occupational exposure to blood and other body fluids after sustaining needlestick injury which constitutes a risk for transmission of blood-borne pathogens such as Hepatitis B virus, Hepatitis C virus or Human Immune-deficiency Virus.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence, response, and associated factors of needlestick injury by medical sharps among healthcare workers in Orotta National Referral Hospital, Asmara, Eritrea.
METHODS: Cross sectional study was conducted between September and December 2017 among healthcare workers. This was a census study whereby a total of 383 healthcare workers who had contact with sharp medical equipment were taken as study population. An aided self-administered questionnaire, checklist and key informant interviews were used as data collection tools. Analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences, version 22. Bivariate and binary logistic regression analyses were carried out and the level of significance was set at P < .05.
RESULTS: The prevalence of needlestick injury 12 months preceding the study was 37.1% (134/361). Midwives had the highest occurrence (45%) among others while adult intensive care unit were found to have higher prevalence of needlestick injury (61.5%) as compared to the other sections. As an immediate response to needlestick injury, only 15.7% washed the injured part with soap and water. The factors associated with needlestick injury include age > 40 years (AOR = .314, p = .05), marital status (married (AOR = 0.595, p = .05)), additional duty that made healthcare workers rush during working hours (AOR = 2.134, p = .002) and back bone problem (AOR = 2.239, p = .002).
CONCLUSIONS: The overall finding of the study indicated that there was a great risk of contracting blood-borne infections among the healthcare workers especially midwives. Therefore, there is need for adequate supply of safety engineered devices, Hepatitis B vaccine, better reporting, and surveillance of needlestick injury cases at the hospital. Moreover, further research on assessment of the knowledge, attitude, and practice of healthcare workers toward occupational safety and health, particularly needlestick injury, is necessary.

There are little data on sharps injuries among healthcare workers in West Africa despite the region\'s high rate of hepatitis B and human immunodeficiency virus. The purpose of this study is to investigate healthcare workers\' history of sharps injuries in Liberia and Ghana. An electronic cross-sectional survey was conducted among healthcare workers in Liberia and Ghana from February to June 2022. A link to the survey was texted to participants through professional association membership lists, including nursing, midwifery, and physician assistant organizations in both Liberia and Ghana and a physician organization in Ghana only. Five hundred and nine participants reported an average of 1.8 injuries per year in Liberia and 1.1 in Ghana (P ≤ .01); 15.1% of healthcare workers reported three or more injuries in the past year. Liberia had a higher proportion of frequently injured workers (P = .01). Frequently injured workers were evenly distributed across worker types. Workers in this region are vulnerable to sharps injuries. A frequently injured subset of workers likely has distinctive risk factors and would benefit from further investigation and intervention.

OBJECTIVE: Timely postexposure prophylaxis is important after an occupational exposure. Here we review select organisms, exposure opportunities in the healthcare setting, and postexposure prophylaxis regimens.
RESULTS: Needlestick injuries pose a risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens, such as HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C. Risk mitigation strategies should be reexamined in light of newer vaccines and therapeutics. Increased vaccine hesitancy and vaccine denialisms may foster the re-emergence of some infections that have become extremely uncommon because of effective vaccines. With increasing occurrences of zoonotic infections and the ease of global spread as evidenced by COVID-19 and mpox, healthcare exposures must also consider risks related to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.
CONCLUSIONS: Early recognition and reporting of occupational exposures to pathogens with available postexposure prophylaxis is key to mitigating the risk of transmission. Providers should be able to evaluate the exposure and associated risks to provide prompt and appropriate postexposure prophylaxis.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the application value of the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) method in the risk management of needlestick injuries among oral healthcare personnel.
METHODS: A total of 37 healthcare workers from the dental department of Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, were selected as study subjects. Routine risk management procedures were followed from January 2021 to December 2021, serving as the control group, while FMEA-based risk management was implemented from January 2022 to December 2022, representing the research group. The Risk Priority Number (RPN) was calculated, and interventions were implemented for the top five identified failure modes. The RPN score, incidence of needlestick injuries, healthcare personnel\'s knowledge and awareness levels, prevention behavior, and rate of satisfaction with management were compared between the two groups.
RESULTS: FMEA-based risk management identified weak knowledge of protection, disorganized placement of sharp instruments, failure to adhere to operational standards, improper operational procedures, and insufficient regulations for preventing needlestick injuries as the top five failure modes. The RPN scores for these modes were significantly lower in the research group (P<0.05). The research group also experienced a lower frequency and incidence of needlestick injury (P<0.05), along with higher levels of healthcare knowledge, awareness of prevention, and prevention behavior (P<0.05). Additionally, satisfaction with management was higher in the research group compared to the control group (P<0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: FMEA-based risk management can improve the ability of oral healthcare personnel to prevent needlestick injury, reduce the occurrence of such incidents, and enhance satisfaction with management. This approach holds promise for wider adoption.

UNASSIGNED: Diabetes Mellitus is a long duration disease, and if a person with diabetes is infected with a blood-borne infectious disease and proper syringe disposal practices are not followed, they run the danger of transmitting the infection to others for a very long period. Whereas fewer research has been done in China on the handing of sharp objects at home. Therefore, there is a need to translate and localize the Knowledge-Attitude-Practice Questionnaire regarding sharp disposal for diabetic patients to assess the current level of patient knowledge, attitudes, and practices and to improve the basis for promoting safe sharps handling practices.
UNASSIGNED: This investigation was a cross-sectional study. The Knowledge-Attitude-Practice Questionnaire regarding sharp disposal was localized and debugged and tested for reliability and validity, and then 334 patients were investigated by General Characteristics Questionnaire, Knowledge- Attitude-Practice Questionnaire regarding sharp disposal, and the influencing factors of practice level regarding sharp disposal of patients were analyzed.
UNASSIGNED: The Cronbach\'s α value of the attitude section was 0.864 and the content validity index was 0.923. The knowledge and practice sections are in line with continental language conventions and are easy to understand without any ambiguity. The majority (52%) of the participants had poor knowledge and a neutral attitude toward disposing of sharp objects. Sharps disposal practices among diabetes mellitus patients were poor since about 90% of patients dispose of their used sharps directly into the household waste. Furthermore, we found that level of education, knowledge and attitude were the major predictors of practices regarding sharps disposal among diabetic patients (R 2 = 0.573, p < 0.001).
UNASSIGNED: The Chinese version of the Knowledge-Attitude-Practice Questionnaire regarding sharp disposal has applicability in China. In China, current practice of disposing used sharps is improper. Additionally, the majority of the subjects had low levels of knowledge and attitudes. To raise awareness and encourage diabetic patients to follow appropriate sharps disposal practices, there needs to be ongoing education and a locally tailored safe sharp disposal alternative accessible.

In Poland, there are numerous cases of injuries caused by sharp instruments annually, still significantly more than in other European Union countries. The aim of this study was to analyze work-related injuries among healthcare workers in a selected hospital before and after the implementation of safety-engineered devices (SED).
Retrospective analysis of medical documentation regarding occupational needlestick and sharps injuries (NSSI) in a tertiary referral surgical hospital in 1998-2018. The study group consisted of nurses and doctors who had been injured and reported the incident. The frequency of injury reports, injury rate, and characterization of circumstances surrounding NSSI are presented.
Over the period of 20 years, a total of 257 NSSI incidents were reported. The average injury rate was statistically significant for nurses (p = 0.004) and was higher before the introduction of SED. Moreover, the number of injuries among nurses showed a downward trend during the study period. However, for doctors, there was no statistically significant difference in the median puncture rate (p = 0.099), and the number of injuries showed an increasing trend.
In this study, the authors\' have demonstrated not only the occurrence of injuries and punctures in the daily work of medical personnel but also the potential for their reduction through the use of safety equipment at every workstation where healthcare services are provided using sharp medical instruments. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2024;37(2):234-43.

BACKGROUND: Needle-stick injuries (NSIs) pose a safety risk for healthcare workers with great potential for serious infections. The aim was to determine numbers and causes of NSIs as well as the frequency with which medical students report NSIs in the final stages of study.
METHODS: An online questionnaire was developed and made available in January and February 2023 to all undergraduate medical students (n = 423) in the last 1.5 years of their degree course at Würzburg University, Germany.
RESULTS: The response rate was 19.6% (n = 84). Among respondents, 27.4% (n = 23) reported at least one NSI. Occurrence was particularly frequent in surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, and internal medicine. Assisting with procedures, suturing, and blood sampling were considered high-risk activities. Lack of concentration, distraction, and time pressure played a role in incidents. Respondents did not report 18.8% of NSIs with the main reasons being fear of the consequences, self-assessment of the injury as minor, or the opinion of supervisors that reporting was unnecessary. Students with previous practice on simulators or patients were significantly more likely to suffer NSIs. Instructions from occupational health specialists beforehand correlated with fewer NSIs.
CONCLUSIONS: We assume that trained students are more experienced in handling invasive procedures, leading to a greater adoption of corresponding activities and thus an increased risk of injuries in absolute numbers. This does not counter the need for didactic interventions prior to workplace-based training to raise awareness of NSI risks. Simultaneously, concepts must be developed and implemented to support reporting and alleviate fears regarding consequences.

UNASSIGNED: Injuries occurring from contaminated sharps are a major occupational health hazard. It carries a risk of transmitting blood-borne diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Healthcare workers (HCWs), including personnel handling biomedical waste, are at risk. The objective of this study was to determine the incidence and details of needlestick injury (NSI) among HCWs.
METHODS: We analyzed data of all HCWs who reported NSI over the past three years. Demographic details, type and source of injury, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), immediate post-exposure measures, hepatitis B vaccination status and HCWs and source\'s HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C serological status were studied.
RESULTS: Fifty-six cases of NSI were recorded over three years, accounting for an incidence of 10.4/100 occupied beds per year. Maximum cases (73.2%) occurred between the 20 and 40 yr age group. The distribution among the work category was doctors (37.5%), nursing staff (26.8%), phlebotomy technicians (12.5%), housekeeping/subordinate staff (12.5%) and others (10.7%). Appropriate PPE was donned by 66 per cent of the HCWs. The majority of cases (46.4%) occurred in wards and operating rooms (23.2%). Phlebotomy (35.7%), followed by procedures, such as hemoglucotest (HGT) measurement, intravenous cannula insertion and operative procedures (33.9%), were the most common situation during which HCWs suffered NSI. While 64.2 per cent HCWs were vaccinated for hepatitis B, only 5.4 per cent of the HCWs completed post-exposure anti-retroviral regimen.
UNASSIGNED: We conclude that a relative lack of awareness towards preventive measures and inexperience among HCWs may be contributory to high occurrence of NSI events. This study emphasizes upon ensuring active hospital-wide hepatitis B vaccination of all HCWs and supportive therapy to improve compliance towards post-exposure prophylaxis.

BACKGROUND: For most clinicians and nursing officers, laboratory testing is an unfamiliar part of medical caregiving, and ignorance may lead to serious avoidable errors. Phlebotomy, the first basic step towards laboratory testing, is to be taken seriously otherwise unnecessary repeat testing becomes mandatory. We hypothesized that there are some gaps in knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) among these nursing officers regarding practices of phlebotomy, which may influence the quality of blood samples. This study aims to assess the overall nurses\' knowledge, attitude, and practice of phlebotomy to provide a remarkable improvement in blood sampling practice in our hospital.
METHODS: A prospective study was conducted involving nurses posted in different wards in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Patna, India. A phlebotomy questionnaire was designed based on KAP on the clinical and laboratory standards of the WHO guidelines. A total of 30 questions were distributed among the nursing staff, 10 each from knowledge, attitude, and practice. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were used to analyze the KAP levels and their influencing factors. All continuous variables were tested for normality conditions using the Shapiro-Wilk test and P>0.05 were considered for normality.
CONCLUSIONS: The total average score of knowledge among the nurses was 7.62 (95%CI: 15.77-16.56). It was found that the nurses, on average, had a very strong positive attitude (93.36%). Regarding the distribution of practices of nurses, it was found that 87% had good practice as most of the positive practice items had high responses. The knowledge of phlebotomy among nurses was found to be satisfactory, except in a few areas. An education program on phlebotomy should be developed for nurses to improve and enhance their knowledge of phlebotomy.

OBJECTIVE: To report the seroprevalence of bloodborne viral infection (BBVI) in patients undergoing ophthalmic surgeries and assess the utility and feasibility of preoperative screening for BBVI in India\'s current eye care system.
METHODS: This retrospective, hospital-based, descriptive study included data from patients undergoing preoperative screening for Hepatitis B virus (HBV), Hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) at a tertiary eye care institute from 2018 to 2022. Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) were performed on the blood samples after obtaining informed consent from the patients. Seroreactive patients underwent surgery with additional safety precautions. The demographic data and surgical details of these patients were collected and analyzed. ANOVA was used to carry out statistical analysis between groups. During the study period, the number of healthcare workers (HCWs) sustaining needle stick injury (NSI) and accidental sharp injury (ASI) in the operating theater (OT) and details of these injuries were recorded.
RESULTS: Samples from 28,563 patients were included. The seroprevalence of BBVI was 1.87% (536/28563). Hepatitis B virus (322, 60.1%) was the most commonly detected infection, and HIV (59, 11%) was the least detected infection. The mean age of the seroreactive patients was 60.3 ± 30.8 years. The incidence of NSI was 0.49/1000 surgeries. Nurses (11) and technicians (4) in the OT sustained maximum NSI. None of the HCWs had seroconversion after NSI.
CONCLUSIONS: The overall seroprevalence of BBVI in the current study is lower than that reported in previously published studies from eye care organizations. Currently, mandatory preoperative screening for BBVI to prevent transmission of these infections to HCWs working in the eye care sector in India appears to be less cost-effective.