Occupational exposure to blood and body fluids among Turkish nursing students during clinical practice training: frequency of needlestick/sharp injuries and hepatitis B immunisation.

AIM AND OBJECTIVE To describe the rate of needlestick/sharp injuries in nursing students, to estimate the rate of vaccination administration and to define nursing students' status using universal precautions for protecting from blood-borne infections. BACKGROUND Nursing students have a high risk of occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens because they may have insufficient background knowledge to recognise the level of risk posed by a particular patient and their inexperience with procedural skills and infection control procedures. DESIGN This study was designed as a retrospective and descriptive survey. METHODS The frequency and mechanism of needlestick/sharp injuries and hepatitis B immunisation were determined retrospectively by surveying students in three nursing schools. In November 2004, 473 students were questioned about needlestick/sharp injuries that they had sustained during their clinical practice and hepatitis B immunisations. RESULTS Forty-nine per cent of the students who responded sustained injuries; of these 74% were injured while on wards. The highest number (72.2%) had been injured by hollow-bore needles; 65.2% who were injured were not wearing gloves at the time of injury; 27% of injuries were associated with recapping the needle; 43.9% reported their injuries to administrators and the rate of those receiving medical assistance after needlestick/sharp injuries was less than not seeking assistance; 67.7% had been vaccinated against hepatitis B. CONCLUSION This study showed that nursing students frequently sustain needlestick/sharp injuries and hepatitis B immunisation rate was low. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE Findings will help in designing more intensive education programs directed at the students to increase their awareness of and compliance with Universal Precautions and in instituting policies so that they are fully immunised against hepatitis B before beginning clinical practice.

[1]  D. Cardo,et al.  Bloodborne pathogen transmission in health care workers. Risks and prevention strategies. , 1997, Infectious disease clinics of North America.

[2]  Y. Cossart,et al.  Needlestick injury in medical students , 1994, The Medical journal of Australia.

[3]  A. Yassi,et al.  Determinants of blood and body fluid exposure in a large teaching hospital: hazards of the intermittent intravenous procedure. , 1991, American journal of infection control.

[4]  G. Bonaccorsi,et al.  Vaccination against hepatitis B in health care workers. , 2001, Vaccine.

[5]  Ming-Tsang Wu,et al.  Needlestick/sharps injuries among vocational school nursing students in southern Taiwan. , 2004, American journal of infection control.

[6]  P. Leggat,et al.  Needlestick and sharps injuries among nursing students. , 2005, Journal of advanced nursing.

[7]  A. Azap,et al.  Occupational exposure to blood and body fluids among health care workers in Ankara, Turkey. , 2005, American journal of infection control.

[8]  Y. Guo,et al.  Student nurses in Taiwan at high risk for needlestick injuries. , 2002, Annals of epidemiology.

[9]  W. Ko,et al.  Prevalence of nonreporting behavior of sharps injuries in Taiwanese health care workers. , 1999, American journal of infection control.

[10]  G. Poland.  Hepatitis B immunization in health care workers. Dealing with vaccine nonresponse. , 1998, American journal of preventive medicine.

[11]  E. Durukan,et al.  Long working hours increase the risk of sharp and needlestick injury in nurses: the need for new policy implication. , 2006, Journal of advanced nursing.

[12]  R. Wurtz,et al.  Infection control instruction and screening for students. , 1994, American journal of infection control.

[13]  K. Norén,et al.  Occupational exposure , 1996, Environmental science and pollution research international.

[14]  M. Talas,et al.  Blunt and penetrating object injuries in housekeepers working in a Turkish University Hospital. , 2006, American journal of infection control.

[15]  G. Cimete,et al.  Nursing education and practice in Turkey. , 2000, Journal of nursing scholarship : an official publication of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.

[16]  A. Mahafzah,et al.  Epidemiology of needlestick and sharp injuries at a university hospital in a developing country: a 3-year prospective study at the Jordan University Hospital, 1993 through 1995. , 1997, American journal of infection control.

[17]  Ralph F Frankowski,et al.  Predictors of Nurses’ Acceptance of an Intravenous Catheter Safety Device , 2003, Nursing research.

[18]  M. Catalano.  Postexposure prophylaxis implementation issues: programmatic concerns in hospitals. , 1997, The American journal of medicine.

[19]  J. Mur,et al.  Occupational Exposure to Blood: Search for a Relation Between Personality and Behavior , 2000, Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.

[20]  Pascal Astagneau,et al.  Occupational blood and body fluids exposures in health care workers: four-year surveillance from the Northern France network. , 2003, American journal of infection control.

[21]  K. Fennie,et al.  A training programme for prevention of occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens: impact on knowledge, behaviour and incidence of needle stick injuries among student nurses in Changsha, People's Republic of China. , 2003, Journal of advanced nursing.

[22]  P. Venkatesan,et al.  Needlestick injuries amongst medical students in Birmingham, UK. , 2000, The Journal of hospital infection.

[23]  S. Elliott,et al.  Medical students' knowledge of sharps injuries. , 2005, The Journal of hospital infection.

[24]  R. M. Whitby,et al.  Hollow‐bore needlestick injuries in a tertiary teaching hospital: epidemiology, education and engineering , 2002, The Medical journal of Australia.

[25]  M. Liddell,et al.  Evaluation of procedural skills training in an undergraduate curriculum , 2002, Medical education.

[26]  K. S. Weatherly,et al.  Needle stick injury in pediatric hospitals. , 1991, Pediatric nursing.

[27]  C. Uwakwe.  Systematized HIV/AIDS education for student nurses at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria: impact on knowledge, attitudes and compliance with universal precautions. , 2000, Journal of advanced nursing.

[28]  T. Cherian,et al.  Preventing transmission of blood-borne pathogens to health care workers. , 2000, The National medical journal of India.

[29]  Y. Chan,et al.  Analysis of sharps injury occurrences at a hospital in Singapore. , 2002, International journal of nursing practice.

[30]  R. Mines,et al.  Needlestick injury , 2010, Anaesthesia.

[31]  G. H. Tignor,et al.  Device-specific sharps injury and usage rates: an analysis by hospital department. , 1997, American journal of infection control.

[32]  J. Culver,et al.  Preventing transmission of blood-borne pathogens: a compelling argument for effective device-selection strategies. , 1997, American journal of infection control.

[33]  E. Vardareli,et al.  Occupational exposure to hepatitis infection among Turkish nurses: frequency of needle exposure, sharps injuries and vaccination , 2004, Epidemiology and Infection.

[34]  L. Reutter,et al.  A critical review of the literature on sharps injuries: epidemiology, management of exposures and prevention. , 1997, Journal of advanced nursing.

[35]  D. Adams,et al.  Impact of safety needle devices on occupationally acquired needlestick injuries: a four-year prospective study. , 2006, The Journal of hospital infection.

[36]  N. Tabak,et al.  The health beliefs of hospital staff and the reporting of needlestick injury. , 2006, Journal of clinical nursing.

[37]  D. Jeffe,et al.  Evaluation of a preclinical, educational and skills-training program to improve students' use of blood and body fluid precautions: one-year follow-up. , 1999, Preventive medicine.

[38]  S. Mackinnon,et al.  Needlestick injuries among medical students. , 2003, American journal of infection control.

[39]  O. Oncul,et al.  Seroprevalences of hepatitis B and C among health care workers in Turkey , 2003, Journal of viral hepatitis.

[40]  S. Teles,et al.  Compliance with hepatitis B virus vaccination and risk of occupational exposure to blood and other body fluids in intensive care department personnel in Brazil. , 2003, American journal of infection control.

[41]  F. Mahoney,et al.  Occupational exposure to needlestick injuries and hepatitis B vaccination coverage among health care workers in Egypt. , 2003, American journal of infection control.

[42]  K. Matson.  States begin passing sharps and needle-stick legislation to protect health care workers. , 2000, AORN journal.

[43]  M. Yavuz.  Nursing doctoral education in Turkey. , 2004, Nurse education today.

[44]  U. Ayranci,et al.  Needlestick and sharps injuries among nurses in the healthcare sector in a city of western Turkey. , 2004, The Journal of hospital infection.

[45]  F. Burke,et al.  Occupational exposures occurring in students in a UK dental school. , 2002, European journal of dental education : official journal of the Association for Dental Education in Europe.

[46]  G. McLeod.  Needlestick injuries at operations for trauma. Are surgical gloves an effective barrier? , 1989, The Journal of bone and joint surgery. British volume.

[47]  R. Pearson,et al.  Risk of needle stick and sharp object injuries among medical students. , 1999, American journal of infection control.

[48]  이수정.  해외산업간호정보 - 미국 산업안전보건연구원(National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) 소개 , 2009 .