Prevalence of Needle-Stick Injuries and Associated Factors among Health Care Workers at Hawassa Town, South Ethiopia

Background: Health care workers (HCWs) face a definite risk of becoming infected with blood-borne pathogens, like HIV as a result of their professional activities.

Objective: This study was designed to assess the prevalence of needle-stick injuries and associated factors among health care workers at Hawassa town, South Ethiopia

Method: A total of 366 health care workers involved in the direct day-to-day management of patients answered a questionnaire inquiring about the occurrence of needle-stick injuries and about potential predictors.

Result: The two-week incidence and the annual prevalence rates of needle-stick injury were 14 and 310 per 1000 exposed workers. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the most important risk factors for needle-stick injuries were youth (<30 years) [AOR: 3.00, 95% CI: (1.82-4.93)], lack of training on such injuries (AOR: 2.24, 95% CI 1.74-3.06), in availability of safety box (AOR: 0.45, 95% CI 0.23-0.76), not considering needle-stick injuries avoidable (AOR: 2.21, 95% CI 1.39- 3.47), and recapping needles most of the time [AOR: 2.09, 95% CI: (1.07-2.48)].

Conclusion: This study showed a high rate of needle-stick injuries among health care workers in Hawassa town. The most important contributing factors to needle-stick injuries were being young health worker, lack of training on needle-stick injuries, lack of availability of safety box, not considering needle-stick injuries avoidable and recapping of needle.