Interdisciplinary differences in needlestick injuries among healthcare professionals in training: Improving situational awareness to prevent high-risk injuries
Affiliations: [a] Department of Neurological Surgery, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
| [b] Department of Neurological Surgery, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| [c] Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL, USA
Correspondence:
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Address for correspondence: Gennadiy A. Katsevman, West Virginia University, Department of Neurosurgery, One Medical Center Drive, Suite 4300, Health Sciences Center, PO Box 9183, Morgantown, WV 26506-9183, USA. Tel.: +1 224 489 8384; E-mail: gkatsev@gmail.com.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:Needlestick injuries among healthcare professionals continue to be an occupational hazard, frequently and incorrectly regarded as low-risk, and exacerbated by underreporting. We aimed to investigate rates of needlestick injury, reasons for underreporting, and how explicit announcements that patients are “high-risk” (i.e., human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis, or intravenous drug abuse history) might affect the actions of those at risk of sustaining an injury. METHODS:A cross-sectional survey was administered to medical students (MS), nursing students (NS), and residents. RESULTS:30/224 (13%) of MS, 6/65 (9%) of NS, and 67/126 (53%) of residents experienced needlestick injuries. 37% of MS, 33% of NS, and 46% of residents attributed “lack of concentration” as cause of injury. Residents had the lowest percentage of underreporting (33%), with rates of 40% and 83% among MS and NS, respectively. Top reasons for non-reporting included the injury being perceived as “trivial” (22%) and patient being “low-risk” (18%). A majority stated pre-operative “high-risk” announcements should be required (91%), and would promote “culture of safety” (82%), reporting of injuries (85%), and increased concentration during procedures (70%). CONCLUSIONS:We recommend routine announcements during pre-operative time-out and nursing/resident hand-offs that state a patient is “high-risk” if applicable. We hypothesize such policy will promote a “culture of safety,” situational awareness, and incident reporting.
