A Study to Assess the Knowledge and Practices of Staff Nurses Regarding Prevention of Needle Stick Injury in Selected Hospitals

Abstract

Needle stick injuries are very common and occupational hazards for all health care workers all over the world. The study aimed with the objective of: To assess the knowledge and practices of staff nurses regarding prevention of needle stick injuries. Health care personnel are always at risk of needle stick injuries while caring for their patients. Such injuries can lead to serious or fatal infections with different blood borne pathogens. So researcher felt that the need to assess the knowledge and practices of staff nurses regarding prevention of needle stick injury with a view to develop self instruction module as it will create awareness among the staff nurses about prevention, and to how to handle the needles and other sharp equipments during care and procedures in a better manner. The research approach adopted in the present study is descriptive survey and research design was descriptive research design. The purposive sampling technique was used to select the hospitals and Simple random sampling technique was used to select the sample. The sample size was 150 staff nurses. Data were collected by using structured interview schedule and a non-observation checklist. Result showed that 84 staff nurses (56%) had average knowledge, 41.33 per cent of staff nurses had low knowledge, and only 2.67 per cent of staff nurses had high knowledge and Only 44 staff nurses (29%) followed moderate practices and 106 staff nurses (71%) followed adequate practice regarding prevention of needle stick injury.