Epidemiology of Needle-Stick Injuries in Mangalore

Health care workers (HCWs) are always at greater risk of infection by needlestick injuries (NSIs) owing to their greater handling of sharps in various situations. OBJECTIVE: The main objective was to review the epidemiology of NSIs among HCWs, and describe the circumstances under which these injuries occurred. METHODS: A questionnaire based, cross sectional study was done during the month of January 2008 at 3 Kasturba Medical College (KMC) institutions, Mangalore. The data was computed and analyzed using SPSS statistical package. RESULTS: During the study period 272 HCWs were self administered questionnaire/interviewed and 102 HCWs reported (37.5%) incidents of injuries with needles during the past 12 months. Doctors were the most frequent victims (64.7%), followed by waste disposal staff (25.5%) and Nurses (7.8%). More than 50% of the victims had more than 3 pricks in the last 12 months. Hospital wards and operation theatre were the major locations of needlestick incidents (31.4% each). Most commonly, injuries occurred during suturing (41.1%) and when using solid bore or suturing needle (47.1%). Majority of them neither reported the injury (60.8%) nor received post-exposure prophylaxis (70.6%). Patient tested sero-negative was the major reason for not reporting the injury. Government hospital staff and waste disposal staff had significantly higher chance of NSI when compared to their counterparts. Conclusions: The study re-emphasized the importance of continued educational and prevention programmes for HCWs in the prevention of needle-stick injuries.