Needlestick Injuries Among Nurses of Fars Province, Iran

PurposeA prevalence survey was performed to estimate the magnitude and predictors for needlestick injury (NSI) in nurses of Fars province hospitals.MethodsQuestionnaires were distributed in 52 hospitals to a stratified random sample of 2118 (46.3%) nurses between April and September 2005 to collect self-reported NSI in the past 12- months.ResultsOf the 1555 nurses who returned a completed questionnaire, 49.6% (95% confidence interval [95 CI] 47.1%–52.1%) recalled at least one sharps injury, of which 52.6% were classified as NSI. Just over one fourth (26.3%; 95 CI 24.1%–28.6%, 409/1555) of respondents sustained at least one NSI, 75.6% (95 CI 71.1%–79.6%) recalled having sustained between 1 and 4 injuries in the past 12-months, of which 72.2% involved a hollow-bore needle and 95.1% of injuries involved fingers. Predictors of NSI included being a registered nurse (odds ratio [OR] 1.6, 95% CI 1.1–2.3) or midwife (OR 2.4, 95% CI 1.4–3.9) compared with nurse managers, being employed in a hospital located in other cities smaller than Shiraz (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1–1.8). Nurses who reported a previous contaminated NSI were less likely to sustain a further injury (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.2–0.4).ConclusionThe prevalence of NSI in Iranian nurses is high, with the majority of injured staff having sustained up to 4 NSIs in a 12-month period. Nearly all NSIs were high-risk injuries involving a hollow-bore needle. Providing nursing staff with safety-engineered devices, including retractable syringes when hollow-bore needles are to be used, will be an important step toward reducing our NSI epidemic.