A study to assess the knowledge and practice of staff nurses regarding needle stick injury  in selected hospital at Mysuru with a view to develop an informational pamphlet

 

Prof. Sheela Willimas¹,  Mrs. Lissa J², Mrs. Saraswathi KN²

¹Principal, JSS College of Nursing, Mysuru

²Assistant Professor, JSS College of Nursing, Mysuru

 

ABSTRACT:

A study to assess the knowledge and practice of staff nurses regarding needle stick injury in J.S.S Hospital, Mysuru with a view to develop a informational pamphlet.  OBJECTIVES OF STUDY: 1. To assess the knowledge and practice of staff nurses regarding needle stick injury . 2. To find out the relationship between knowledge and practice of staff nurses regarding needle stick injury. 3. To find out the association between knowledge and practice of staff nurses with their selected personal variables. METHODS: Study was descriptive in nature and Sample size was 60 staff nurses. Non probability and convenient sampling technique was used for the collection of data. The data collection was done by structured knowledge questionnaire and observational checklist and collected data was analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. RESULTS: The findings of the study highlights that the majority 50(83.4%) of staff nurses had average knowledge, 5(8.3%) had poor knowledge and only 5(8.3%) had good knowledge. The mean and SD of the knowledge scores are 14 and ±3.03 respectively. 1. The findings of the study highlights that the majority 40(66.7%) of staff nurses had poor practice and only 20(33.3%) of staff nurses had good practice. The mean and SD of the practice scores are 12.75 and ±2.3 respectively. 2. The analysis of findings revealed that there was a significant correlation 0.97 between knowledge and practice of staff nurses at 0.05 level significance. 3. The findings also showed that, significant association found between knowledge and exposure to educational programme is 7.41 at 0.05 level of significance, similarly there was a significant association found between practice and exposure to educational programme is 7.34 at 0.05 level of significance. CONCLUSION: The following conclusions was drawn on the basis of the findings of the study. This study shows that there was a average knowledge and poor practice regarding needle stick injury among the staff nurses.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION

Needle stick injury is the most important occupational health hazard in nurses with alarmingly high rates. Each day thousands of health worker around the world, suffer accidental occupational exposures during the course of their role of caring for patients. These injuries can result in a variety of serious and distressing consequence ranging from extreme anxiety to chronic illness. The health care workforce, 35 million people worldwide, represents 12% of the working population.¹

 

Needle stick injuries are defined as an accidental penetrating stab wound.² These injuries can occur at any time when people use, disassemble or dispose of needles, if not disposed properly, needles can conceal in linen or garbage and injure other workers who encounter them unexpectedly. It is found that 30 to 50% of all needlestick injuries occur during clinical procedures. The determinants of needle stick injury includes; overuse of injections, lack of supplies; disposal syringes, safer needle devices and disposal containers, lack of access to and failure to use sharp containers immediately after injection, inadequate or short staffing, recapping of needles after use, lack of engineering controls such as safer needle devices, passing instruments from hand to hand in the operating suite, lack of awareness of hazards and lack of training.³

 

It is important to plan and implement strategies for spreading awareness regarding risks associated, proper handling techniques and effective preventive measures against incidences of needle stick injuries. Infection control centers should be established where absent and their working should be enhanced in terms of training of nurses for sharp management. Reporting to the concerned authorities must be encouraged for accurate estimation of the situation. Screening of nurses after needle stick injury should be promoted and safety measures against it should be enhanced by encouraging the nursing staff to wear gloves while dealing with sharps.⁴

 

As nurses are the largest work force of the health care industry and at high risk to incur needle stick injuries, it is important to have adequate knowledge about hazards, prevalence and controlling measures of needle stick injury.

 

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM:

A descriptive study to assess the knowledge and practice of staff nurse regarding needle stick injury in JSS Hospital at Mysuru, with a view to develop an informational pamphlet.

 

OBJECTIVES:

1)   To assess the knowledge and practice of staff nurse regarding needle stick injury.

2)   To find the relationship between knowledge and practice of staff nurses regarding needle stick injury.

3)    To find the association between knowledge and practice of staff nurses regarding needle stick injury and their selected personal variables.

 

NEED FOR THE STUDY:

WHO reports in the World Health Report 2002, that of the 35 million health-care workers, 2 million experience percutaneous exposure to infectious diseases each year. It further notes that 37.6% of Hepatitis B, 39% of Hepatitis C and 4.4% of HIV/AIDS in Health-Care Workers around the world are due to needlestick injuries.¹

 

A recent CDC study contributing to the overall burden of health care worker injuries estimates that an average of 385,000 needlestick injuries occur annually in U.S. hospital employees. At an average hospital, workers incur approximately 30 reported needlestick injuries per 100 beds per year. Most reported needlestick injuries involve nursing staff; but laboratory staff, physicians, housekeepers, and other health care workers are also injured.⁵

 

HYPOTHESIS:

H₁- There will be significant relationship between the knowledge and practice of staff nurses                                            regarding NSI.

H₂- There will be a significant association between knowledge and practice of staff nurses regarding NSI with their selected personal variables.

 

METHODOLOGY:

Research Approach: Descriptive survey approach

Research Design: Descriptive research design.

Variables:

1)   Study variables are

 Knowledge and  Practice

2)  Personal variables are

Personal variables in the study are age , gender , professional qualification, years of  experience ,recent  history of needle stick injury, area of working

 

Setting of the study:

The setting is the physical location and condition in which data collection takes place. This study was conducted in JSS Hospital, Mysuru

 

Sample and Sampling:

Sample consists of a subset of population selected to participate in a research study. The samples for the present study consist of 60 staff nurses working in JSS Hospitals, Mysuru.

 

 

 

Sampling Technique:

Sampling is the process of selecting portion of the population. Sample from the selected hospital is selected using non probability and convenient sampling technique.

 

 

 

RESULTS:

Table-1: Description of Selected Personal Variables of Study Subjects                                  n-=60

Sl. No	Demographic variables	Frequency	Percentage
1	Age in years 1.1)             21-30 1.2)             31-40	41 19	68. 33 31.6
2	Gender 2.1)    Male 2.2)    Female	2 58	3.3 96.6
3	Educational qualification 3.1)    GNM 3.2)     BSc and PBBSc nursing 3.3)     PB Diploma 3.4)     MSc nursing	51 4 5 _	85 6.6 8.33 -
4	Years of experience 4.1)    1-5 years 4.2)    6-10 years 4.3)    11-15 years	29 23 8	48.33 38.33 13.33
5	Working area 5.1)    Medicine 5.2)    Surgery	30 30	50 50
6	Exposure to educational programme 6.1)     Yes 6.2)     No If yes,  source of information 6.1.1)   CNE 6.1.2)   Journal	39 21   39 0	65 35   65 0
7	Had NSI 7.1)      Yes 7.2)      No	19 41	31.66 68.33
8	Had NSI in last 3 months 8.1)       Yes 8.2)       No If yes, reported to the authority 8.1.1)    Yes 8.1.2)    No	4 56   0 4	6.66 93.3   0 6.6

 

Table-2: Frequency and percentage distribution according to the level of knowledge of staff nurses regarding needle stick injury     n = 60

 

Table-3:  Mean, median, range and SD of knowledge score of staff nurses regarding needle stick injury                                           n = 60

 

Table-4:  Frequency and percentage distribution according to the level of practice among staff nurses                                              n = 60

 

Table -5:  Mean, median, range and standard deviation of practice score of staff nurses regarding NSI                                                 n =60

 

Table-6:  Correlation of knowledge and practice of staff nurses regarding needle stick injury                                                                  n = 60

r₍₅₉₎: o.25; p<0.05;* significant

 

The findings also showed that, significant association found between knowledge and exposure to educational programme is 7.41 at 0.05 level of significance, similarly there was a significant association found between practice and exposure to educational programme is 7.34 at 0.05 level of significance.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. A similar study can be carried out on a large sample for broader generalization.

2. A correlation study can be conducted on the knowledge and practice of staff nurses by using larger sample size.

3. A comparative study can be conducted between staff nurses and student nurses regarding needle stick injury.

4. A similar study can be conducted among staff nurses in other hospitals.

5. An experimental study can be conducted among staff nurses by giving a structured teaching programme.

 

CONCLUSION:

The result of the present study revealed that majority 50(83.3%) of the staff nurses were having average knowledge and 40 (66.6%) poor practice. The relationship between knowledge and practice was found to be significant 0.97 at 0.05 level, which indicates that there is a significant correlation between knowledge and practice of staff nurses regarding needle stick injury.

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

This a project conducted by IV year BSc(N) students of JSS College of nursing by Ms. Jesna Varghese, Ms. Jessna K. Jose, Ms. Komal Shukla, Ms.Lekshmi Mohan, Ms. Manjula M, Ms. Tentimol T.T.

 

REFERENCES:

1.     http://www.who.int/occupationalhealth/topics/needlestickinjuries/en/

2.     http://www.bbruan.no/documents/Products/Sharps_Injury_07.11.pdf

3.     Susan Q, Wilburn BSN,MPH, Gerry Eijkemans MD, “Preventing needlestick injuries among health care workers”, International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health 2004; 10:451-6.

4.     http://www.nursingworld.org/mainmenuCatagories/wokplaceSafety/Healthy-Work  Environment/SafeNeedles/NeedlestickPrevention.pdf

5.     http://osha.gov/SLLTC/etools/hospital/hazards/sharps/sharps.htmlhttp://osha.gov/SLLTC/etools/hospital/hazards/sharps/sharps.html

 

 

 

 

Received on 10.03.2016           Modified on 25.03.2016

Accepted on 06.04.2016           © A&V Publication all right reserved

Int. J. Adv. Nur. Management. 2016; 4(3): 295-298.