Needle stick injuries among nurses of two tertiary care hospitals of Lahore: A KAP study

OBJECTIVETo estimate the prevalence of needle-stick injuries in female nurses of a public and private hospital and compare the findings.METHODSThis cross-sectional study was conducted at one public and one private tertiary care hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, from March to June 2015, and comprised female nurses who were selected using non-probability purposive sampling. A structured questionnaire was used to interview the subjects. Data analysis was done using SPSS 17.RESULTSOf the 386 participants, there were 193(50%) from each of the two hospitals. The prevalence of needle-stick injuries was found to be 85(44%) in public and 51(26.4%) in the private hospital. The highest proportion of injuries in both hospitals occurred while disposing or recapping needles, 36(42.4%) and 32(62.7 %) in public and private hospitals, respectively, especially in the morning shift, i.e. 42(49.4%) in public and 32(62.7%) in private hospital. Syringe needles were mostly involved, 51(60%) in public and 45(88.2%) in private hospital.CONCLUSIONSThe prevalence of needle-stick injuries was higher in public hospital.