Gawad M. A. Alwabr
Sana'a Community College, Yemen
Title: knowledge and practice of needle stick injury preventive measures among nurses of Sana'a city hospitals in Yemen
Biography
Biography: Gawad M. A. Alwabr
Abstract
Background: A needle stick injury is an accidental skin-penetrating stab wound from a hollow-bore needle containing another person's blood or body fluid. and can lead to the transmission of blood-borne pathogens, including hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The purpose of this study is to assess the level of knowledge and practice of needle stick injury preventive measures, and to estimate the incidence of exposure to needle stick injury among nurses working in the governmental hospitals in Sana'a city, Yemen. Methodology: A cross-sectional study among a random sample of nurses (n = 259) was conducted. A pre-tested structured self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 and the associations were tested with chi-square, with p-value of < 0.05. Results: One hundred and fourteen (44 %) respondents had poor knowledge of needle stick injury preventive measures, 75 (29%) had fair knowledge, and 70 (27%) had good knowledge. The knowledge was significantly associated with hospital's name (P < 0.017). One hundred and ninety-eight (76.5%) respondents had a poor practice of needle stick injury preventive measures, 23 (8.9%) had fair practice, and 38 (14.7%) good practice. There was a statistically significant association (p<0.001) between the knowledge and practice. Occupational exposure to needle-stick injury in the preceding 6 months was reported by 37.5% of the respondents, and 36.1% of them had needle-stick injury more than tow time. Only 1.4% of the affected individuals reported the occurrence to concerned hospital authorities. Although 48.6% of the respondents were vaccinated against hepatitis B. Conclusion: The practices and knowledge of needle stick injury preventive measures were low and occupational exposure to needle-stick injury was a common occurrence in the study sample. That's need for intensive programmes to educate nurses on various aspects of needle stick injury preventive measures.