Needle stick injuries and their safety measures among nurses in Erbil Hospitals

Background: Needle stick injuries are serious professional hazards in the transfer of certain types of blood borne diseases such as hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and human immunodeficiency virus among healthcare workers.
Objective: Firstly, to determine the prevalence and factors related to needle stick injuries. Secondly, to assess related safety measures among nurses in Erbil hospitals.
Patients and Methods: A hospital based cross sectional study including a sample of 452 nurses. A representative supple sample size was calculated by using Epi info version 7.The sample was proportional to the population of nurses in each hospital. A convenient sampling technique was adopted in selection of studied sample from different teaching hospitals in Erbil city. Data were collected by using self-administered questionnaire, which included socio-demographic characteristics of participants and questions regarding needle stick injuries and preventive measures. (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA), version 26) was applied for data entry and analysis. P value of ≤ 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
Results: Out of a total (452) study population, 56.9% were females and 43.1% were males. The mean ± SD of age was 36.2 ± 5.41, ranging from 21 to 54 year. The prevalence of needle stick injuries was 87.4% among nurses, and the widespread activity leading to NSIs was recapping of needles (81%). The average of non-reporting to supervisor of infection control was 77.2%.  The majority of NSIs took place in the morning (70.5%). There was a statistically significant association between NSIs and use of PPE, secure disposal of needle in the safety box, and use of auto-disable syringe during injection, in which NSIs were highest among those who not use or sometimes use the above mentioned safety measures, (P<0.001, P=0.002, and P=0.003 in respectively).
Conclusion:This study showed that transverse needle stick injuries among nurses are very high and pose a rise in hazards for professional exposure to diseases transmitted by blood. The majority of nurses are not reporting the needle stick injuries to the supervisor of the infection control unit.