Evaluation of the Survey Results Concerning Sharps Injuries

Objective: Healthcare professionals may face many occupational risks and dangers. The most important risks are infections and sharp injuries (SI). This survey has investigated knowledge status and risk assessment about SI and its required precautions. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey including 18 questions was applied to 312 working staff in our hospital in 2013. The survey including multi-choice questions investigated demographic information in the first six questions. The second part involved queries whether they received SI education and in what stage they were exposed to SI; presence of protective equipment at the injury time, and their applications after SI are also questioned and last part has questions about precautions. Results: 48% of the surveyed healthcare professionals had received education in the recent year about prevention methods from SI and things to do after exposure. It was found that 97% of the surveyed healthcare professionals had information about SI. And, 56% of participants expressed that they were exposed to SI. The occupational group with the most number of exposures to SI was nurses. Needlestick injury was the most common cause of injury. Half of the participants stated that they did nothing after injury. Conclusions: This survey demonstrated that healthcare professionals knew about SI; however they didn't have enough knowledge and practice about required procedures about exposure practices. These results show that healthcare professionals need more education about things to do after injury.