Abstract

Background: Rates of NSIs among hospital HCWs worldwide range between 14.9% to 69.4%, with the highest rates occurring in nurses. In Egypt several NSI studies have already been published, but there has been a gap in research since 2013.

Objective: The present study aims to provide an updated assessment of the current situation of sharp injuries among nurses across several university hospitals in Egypt.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 895 nurses across 13 university hospitals in Egypt between September 2018 and February 2019. A self-filled survey was administered, collecting detailed information on the history of every NSI incident occurring in the past 3 months.

Results: 41.5% (n = 371) of nurses reported ≥ 1 NSI during the past three months. Hollow needles were the most common category of sharp device injury (81%) and 54.3% of injuries occurred when the devices were used for injecting a patient. Nurses that received safety training in the past year and reported a job experience of > 10 yrs were at a lesser risk of experiencing a NSI.

Conclusion: The rate of NSI indicates a high risk of blood borne infections among HCWs in Egypt. Without appropriate assessments of the burden of NSI, directed prevention efforts, availability of pre and post-exposure prophylaxis for bloodborne injuries and extensive training programs for HCW, NSIs will remain a major challenge.

Keywords: Needlestick Injuries; Sharps Injury; Healthcare Workers; Nurses; Blood-borne Pathogens

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Citation

Citation: Ismail G., et al. “Incidence and Causes of Needlestick Injury among Nurses in Emergency Departments of Egyptian University Hospitals". Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 4.10 (2020): 124-129.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Ismail G., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.