Sharp injuries among health care workers in Xuzhou

Abstract:

ObjectiveTo investigate the occurrence and reporting of sharp injuries among health care workers(HCWs) at all levels of hospitals in Xuzhou City, provide evidences for formulating protective measures against sharp injuries and improving the reporting system.MethodsFrom July to August 2016, 13 hospitals in Xuzhou City were randomly selected by multistage stratified random sampling method, the general information, occurrence of sharp injuries, and reporting situation was performed questionnaire survey.ResultsA total of 2 694 valid questionnaires were collected, incidence, case incidence, and reporting rate of sharp injuries were 10.32%, 12.84%, and 30.64% respectively. Case incidence of sharp injuries among HCWs in primary, secondary, and tertiary hospitals were 44.83%, 11.53%, and 12.52% respectively, case incidences of sharp injuries in different levels of hospitals were significantly different （χ2=55.148，P＜0.001）. The main opportunity for sharp injuries was when HCWs returned needle cap (79 cases, 22.83%), the main device involving sharp injuries was hollowbore needle (297 cases, 85.84%). Incidences of sharp injuries among HCWs receiving different training were significantly different （χ2=66.760，P＜0.001）.ConclusionCurrent situation of sharp injuries among HCWs in this region is not optimistic, there are some problems such as poor training efficacy, low reporting rate and low use rate of safety devices, effective measures should be taken to establish an effective monitoring and tracking system for sharp injuries, so as to reduce the occurrence of sharp injuries.