The epidemiology of needle stick injuries among health care workers in a newly developed country

ObjectiveThe main objective of the study is to characterize the epidemiology of needle-stick injuries (NSI) of health care workers (HCWs) working at Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha.DesignThis is a prospective descriptive study among the health care workers on the details of needle stick injuries in the year 2001.Setting1357-bed three tertiary hospitals of the Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.Subjects and methodsDuring the year 2001, a survey was carried out among health care workers working in the three tertiary care hospitals. Of the 1274 HCWs who were approached to participate in this study, 1022 workers responded to the questionnaire on needle stick injury with a response rate of 80.2%. Face to face interviews were conducted on the recruited subjects based on a questionnaire that included variables on age, socio-demographic status and immunization history of studied subjects.ResultsOf the total studied subjects (1022), 214 studied subjects (20.9%) were victims of the needle stick injuries. 911 HCWs (89.1%) from the total had been vaccinated against hepatitis B (HBV). Higher percentage of sharp injuries occurred among 148 female HCWs (69.2%) than males (30.8%). Percentage of incidence of sharp injuries occurred were more among 10 specialists (25%) and 10 residents (25%) than consultants (12.5%). The highest incidence of episodes of needle stick injuries occurred in the area of specialty such as 28 workers in medicine (13.1%), 20 in laboratory (9.3%) and 19 in emergency (8.9%) followed by 17 in pediatric (7.9%). 195 of 214 HCWs (91.1%) who had sharp injuries had taken HBV vaccination. But, the rest of the 19 HCWs (8.9%) had neglected HBV vaccination.ConclusionThe present study revealed that sharp injuries constitute a considerable proportion of NSI incidents (21%) and could pose the greatest risk of blood borne virus transmission. It could be the reason that the HCWs fully knew of the risk but impediments to prevention of NSIs exist. This could be a topic for further research in the future.