Occupational Exposures To Needle Stick And Sharp Injury And Bloodbody Fluid Splash And Determinants Among Health Care Workers At Selected Hospitals In Addis Ababa
Background: Needlestick injuries, sharps injuries, and blood/body fluid splash arernhazards to health care professionals in their working area. Around twenty bloodbornernpathogens are known to be transmitted through these occupational injuries. This problemrnalters the health status of health care professionals (HCPs) in different ways, includingrnphysically, mentally, and psychologically. Even though HCPs are affected at a high rate,rnthere is a low injury report to a higher level. rnObjective: To assess the prevalence of occupational exposure to needlestick injuries,rnSharp injuries, and body fluid splash with their determinants among health carernprofessionals of governmental hospitals in Addis Ababa. rnMethods: Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted by self-administeredrnquestionnaire among health care professionals in six selected hospitals. Data was collectedrnfrom March 2019 to April 2019, with the study sample size of 438. Six governmentrnhospitals selected via simple random sampling (lottery method) from twelve hospitals.rnData were gathered using a self-administered questionnaire. SPSS version 25 used for datarnanalysis. The type of analysis was bivariate and multivariate logistic regression with 95%rnconfidence interval. rnResults: Overall, one-year burden of occupational exposure to Needle stick injury (NSI),rnSharp injury (SI), and Blood and body fluid splashes (BBFs) were 141 (33.3%), 90rn(21.2%) and 198 (46.7%) respectively. Maximum occurrence of NSI, SI, or BBFs reportedrnfrom Emergency 104(36.4%) and Inpatient departments 101(35.3%). Higher exposure ofrnNSI, SI and BBFs were reported by nurses, 58.2%, 62.2%, and 54.6% respectively, whilernmidwifery professionals had twelve times more possible exposure of BBFs (AOR 11.89rn95% CI 1.25-112.7) compared to Physicians, Nurses, Health officers, and LaboratoryrnTechnicians. Study participants who had not training on infection prevention and safetyrnpractice were positively associated to NSI (AOR 3.4, 95% CI 1.5-7.5), SI (AOR 3.02, 95%rnCI 1.17-7.73) and BBFs (AOR 4.27, 95% CI 1.94-9.41). The likelihood of reporting NSIrn(AOR 2.6, 95% CI 1.3-5.3) and SI (AOR 3.97, 95% CI 1.86-8.47) significantly increasedrnamong single in marital status. Participants who had job-related stress were two times morernlikely encountered to NSI, SI, and BBFs, (AOR 2.23, 95% CI 1.14-4.35), (AOR 2.07, 95%rnCI 1.033-4.15) and (AOR 2.18, 95% CI 1.07-4.49), respectively. rnRespondents who dissatisfied on their job were nearly three times more likely to sustainrnNSI and SI (AOR 2.85, 95% CI 1.4-5.8) and (AOR 2.36, 95% CI 1.11- 4.99) respectively.rnHCPs who worked in shift were twice likely to expose to BBFs (AOR 2.36, 95% CI 1.0345.4).rnrnrnConclusion and recommendation: The burden of needlestick injuries, sharps injuries,rnand blood/body fluid splash were high. Unsafe practice and not applying universalrnprecautions were also considerably high. Formal training on infection prevention andrnsafety practice and continuous supportive monitoring to health care professionals from thernconcerned bodies is recommended to prevent prevalent occupational exposures tornneedlestick, sharps injuries, and blood/body fluid splash.