Abstract

Prevalence, Knowledge and risk factors contributing to needle stick injury among Medical interns working at a tertiary care hospital: A cross-sectional study

Background: Needle Stick Injuries (NSIs) are one of the commonest occupational hazards that a health care worker (HCW) is exposed to in a hospital. Interns are a vulnerable group of healthcare workers, cited as having the highest incidence of accidental needle-stick injuries. The main reason is thought to be a lack of experience which increase risk of exposure. About 40%-75% of these injuries are not reported. It’s important to assess the risk and educate the interns and also provide a safe working environment. Aim and Objective: 1. To determine the prevalence of needle stick injury among interns in tertiary care hospitals. 2. To assess the knowledge, awareness, and risk factors contributing to needle stick injury. Material and methods: This study is a crosssectional observational survey conducted at a tertiary care hospital. 79 interns volunteered to participate in the study. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to collect data regarding knowledge, practices, and preventive measures among interns in their workplaces. Data were analyzed using R software version 3.6.1. A chi-square test was done to compare the categorical variables and <0.05 was considered significant. Results: The prevalence of NSI was found to be 10.8%. All subjects were aware of the risk associated with needle stick injury. 71 (89.87%) interns knew universal precautions and 88.61% of the interns were recapping the needles before disposing. There is a significant association between the usage of gloves and needle stick injury by the Chi-square test. The odds of getting injured from the needle are 6.7857 times more for the subjects who don’t use gloves compared to the subjects who use gloves. Conclusions: The Knowledge among the interns was inadequate, indicating the need for training programs to reduce the burden of NSI among health care workers especially young doctors like interns before they enter their professional careers of clinical practice.

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