Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practices among healthcare workers in a tertiary care hospital on needle stick injury

Abstract

PURPOSE: The study aims to assess healthcare workers' needle-stick injury (NSI) knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP). DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a 600-bedded hospital throughout six months. The data were collected using an anonymous, self-reporting questionnaire. Participants were various healthcare workers (HCW) drawn through stratified random sampling and their knowledge, attitude and practice regarding NSI were assessed. FINDINGS: There is significant difference in the mean knowledge, attitude and practice scores among healthcare workers. Even though scores are better for doctors and nurses, practice scores were better for technical staff. Healthcare workers, who had better practice scores, had suffered fewer NSIs. Since this study is a cross-sectional, the population's NSI incidence could not be calculated. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: This study emphasizes that applying knowledge to practice is required to prevent NSIs. Various recommendations to help prevent and deal with NSIs are made. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This study analyses healthcare workers' NSI knowledge, attitude and practices, and also assesses their correlation with NSI incidence, which has not been done previously.