Needle stick injuries among nurses and midwives working in inpatients department at Kiziguro District Hospital

Abstract

Background Despite published guidelines and training programs, needle stick injuries remain an ongoing problem. The report on incidents at Kiziguro District Hospital showed that in 2015, 49 incidents which occurred, 11 were needle stick injuries. Therefore, the study aimed at assessment of needle stick injuries among nurses and midwives working in Inpatients Department at Kiziguro District Hospital, Rwanda. Methods The pre and post interventional study was conducted to measure the rate of needle stick injuries among nurses and midwives. Refresher training on prevention of needle stick injuries was the main intervention implemented, Chi-square tests were used to compare pre and post intervention needle stick injuries, Data collected was computed using a software SPSS at a significance level of P<0.05. Results The needle stick injuries among nurses and midwives reduced from 21% in pre-intervention to 4.7% in post intervention (P <0.020). Refresher training has increased in post-intervention to the level of 90.7% (P<0.031); recapping change was68.9% (P<0.000) in pre intervention; the lack of awareness onpolicy and procedures was 100% in pre-intervention reduced to 6.9% in post-intervention with change of 93.1% (P<0.008) and non-utilization of safety boxes during procedures was 84.2% in pre-intervention reduced to 9.3% in post-intervention with the change of 72.9% (P<0.025). Conclusion Our findings demonstrated that refresher training of nurses and midwives on needle stick injuries is an effective way to prevent and reduce the incidence of these injuries at Kiziguro District Hospital. Putting in place guidelines and mechanisms to monitor these injuries would help other comparable hospitals improve the situation.