An Epidemiological Study Of Sharp Injuries Among Nurses In Thirteen Hospitals In Guangzhou

Sharp injury is the most familiar professional risk which leads to blood transmited disease in health workers. We investigated the epidemiology of sharp injuries in the whole staff of nurses in 13 hospitals in Guangzhou since they engaged in the profession and in the latest month. The epidemic features of sharp injuries and their risk factors in nurses have been studied by case-control and case- case control methods. We found that the sharp injuries in the nurses took place frequently: 87.5% of nurses have suffered the injuries at least once time; 71.7% of them have suffered twice or more; in the lastest month, 37.6% of the nurses have suffered the injuries at least once time, and the 47.4% of the injuries were caused with needle or other sharp implements contaminated by patients. The occurrence frequency of the injuries was 1.04 per person per month; contaminated injuries took place 0.24 per person per month. The time, place, population and the site of injuries have their distribution characters. The disposal of needle after using and breaking ampoule off with fingers and thumb were responsible for 70% sharp injuries. By case-control study, the sharp injuries within the latest month have been investigated. Analyzed with multi-way logistic regression analysis,It is showed that the risk factors leading to the sharp injuries by turns are: contacting the needle more frequently, thinking subjectively the sharp injuries as unavoidable, the atmosphere in the nursing unit is not harmonious enough, the recapping habit, carelessness to the works, too many patients not co-operationing, breaking the ampule off without using carbasus, crowed and noising working place, lacking of the standard prevention acknowledge, lacking of the awareness of how to avoiding the accident, having an initiative and creative personality. According to having had the different times of sharp injuries since having worked, the nurses have been investigated by case-control study and case-case control study. After logistic multiple factor analysis, we found that the risk factors are 10 ones below: breaking the ampule off without using carbasus, having the habit of recapping, misunderstanding to recapping, lacking of the knowledge of preventing sharpinjuries, lacking of the standard prevention knowledge, considering the accident as unavoided subjectively, having not the habit of reposition, carelessness, the unit was devoid of solidarity and abidance, the hospital administration system were not strict. The study shows that besides the nurses personalities such as carlessness, without concentration, much more initiative and creative, the sharp injuries happened in nurses have the relationship with improper behavies (recapping, not replacing utensils in time), lacking of relative knowledge of how to prevent the accident, misunderstanding to the injuries, the nurse unit atmosphere and if they abide by the protocol when breaking off the ampules. The most of them could be prevented by education. We have also found there were notable difference in statistics of sharp injuries in different hospitals. The results of muliple linear stepwise regression analysis showed that the ratio of bed-nurse, operation quantity per year per person and the amount of venous ducts used are the risk factors of sharp injuries, and the amount of trochar and the vacuum withdrawals used are the protective factors. These findings suggest that over loading work is correlated with sharp injuries, and the using of security products may reduce the accidents. The results may provide a definite foundation for infection control department in hospital and sanitatary administration department to constitute relative policies .