J Korean Acad Adult Nurs.  1999 Mar;11(1):39-49.

A Study on Needlestick Injuries in Nurses and Doctors

• Youn SY
• Kim MH

Abstract

This retrospective descriptive study was conducted to survey the needlestick injuries(NSI) in nurses and doctors. Thc subjccts of this study wcrc 351 nurscs and 199 doctors of four teaching hospitals. Pusan. The data was gathered from March, 18 to April 9. 1988 and analyzed though SPSSWIN progra n for frequency, percentile and X2-test. According to the results of the study, 85.5% of subjects had experienced NSI (94.4% of the nurses and 73.9% of the doctors). The ratio of the experience of NSI in nurses was significantly higher than that of doctors(X2=53.54, P=.00). Most needle-stick injuries occured during the administration of intravenous injection(36.7%) in nurses, on the other hand percutaneous venipuncture for blood sampling(35.3%), suturing(27.2%) in doctors. The most ccmmon situation of these NSI was recapping contaminated needles after treatment. Only 12.0% of nurses and 38.6% of doctors reported wearing gloves when the NSI happened. 26.1% of subjects reported that they could not identify the source patient after MI. The major reason of NSI were preeeived to be carelessness%1.4%). Of these NSI, 54.6% occured in :usy or emergency situations. Among the management for NSI, exam(8.6%), mefication(9.8%) and counseling(11.7%) and reporting(2,6%. is lower than bleeding(80.3%) from the wound, deaning( 63.3%), disinfection(91.3%) and reviewing the clinical records of the patients (82.3%). In conclusion, nurses and doctors are at a high-risk of needlestick injuries but substantially they are not good at preventing and managing NSI. So efforts to reduce NSI should be directed not only at improving procedural skills for intravenous catheter insertions, but also in increasing use of barrier protection such as gloves, and so on. Also immunization and educational efforts should be made along with better designs of needles to reduce the risk of NSI. Continuing prevention and training programs for NSI are needed in order to avoid unwanted infection.

MeSH Terms

Busan
Catheters
Dronabinol
Education
Emergencies
Hand
Hospitals, Teaching
Humans
Immunization
Needles
Needlestick Injuries*
Phlebotomy
Retrospective Studies
Wounds and Injuries
Dronabinol