Awareness and practices regarding needle stick injuries among nurses in a tertiary care hospital of Delhi

Introduction: Needle stick injuries are an important occupational hazard for nursing personnel as they form an important mechanism for transmission of blood borne pathogens. Hence the knowledge of nurses about the prevention and management of needle stick injuries and practicing standard precautions is critical. Methodology: This was a hospital based cross sectional study conducted among nursing staff during the month of December, 2011. A semi structured questionnaire was administered to 320 nurses working in a tertiary care hospital of New Delhi by adopting systematic random sampling methodology. Data was entered and analysed using SPSS version 12. Percentages of categorical variables were computed. Results: Only 31.1% nurses had adequate knowledge about steps for prevention of needle stick injuries. 259(88.4%) nurses had adequate knowledge about the authority to whom they should report needle stick injuries while almost three fourth i.e. 73.4% had adequate knowledge about management of needle stick injuries. Majority of nurses (69.6%) reported the use of gloves very often before venipuncture, 80.2% never recapped needles while 77.5% disposed sharps in puncture proof containers very often. Only one fourth (24.6%) nurses always used personal protective equipment in case of emergencies. 85.7% of nurses had received all three doses of hepatitis B vaccine. 51(17.4%) had a history of needle stick injury in the last one year out of which 49(96.1%) took adequate measures immediately after the injury and 37 (72.5%) reported the incidence to the concerned authority. Conclusion:  The knowledge and practices of nurses regarding prevention and management of needle stick injuries were found to be unsatisfactor