Sharps injury prevention guidance among health care professionals: A comparison between self-reported and observed compliance

• We compare the agreement in compliance with double gloving and the hands-free technique between self-report and observation methods.
• We have different agreement levels between a self-report method versus an observation method for each practice.
• Double-gloving compliance and the hands-free technique compliance show moderate and low levels of agreement between the 2 methods, respectively.
• Doctors show higher agreement than nurses between the 2 methods for double-gloving compliance but similar to nurses for hands-free technique compliance.
• Double-gloving compliance for doctors may be measured by either the self-report method or observation method.

BackgroundThis study was performed to compare self-report and observation methods for measuring compliance with double gloving (DG) and the hands-free technique (HFT).MethodsThe participants were 81 health care professionals (29 nurses, 52 doctors) working in 22 operating rooms in a tertiary hospital in Busan (South Korea). All participants were asked to complete a self-report questionnaire. Additionally, compliance with DG and the HFT was observed from March-May 2014. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, χ2 test, and κ statistic using SPSS version 18.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL).ResultsThe participants who always complied with DG and the HFT were 30.9% and 7.7% according to the self-report method, respectively, and 30.9% and 0.0% according to direct observation, respectively. The κ value comparing the self-report and observation methods was 0.557 for all study participants, 0.259 for nurses, and 0.668 for doctors for DG. The κ value was 0.027 for all participants, 0.131 for nurses, and 0.020 for doctors for the HFT.ConclusionDG compliance and HFT compliance showed moderate and low levels of agreement between the 2 methods, respectively. Doctors showed higher agreement than nurses between the 2 methods for DG compliance but similar to nurses for HFT compliance. Therefore, the levels of compliance with DG may be measured by either the self-report or observation methods for doctors.