Background:Needle-Stick Injuries (NSIs) are among the hazards and problems that can expose health workers to infections.Objectives:This study aimed to determine the rate of NSIs in a teaching hospital in Tehran, Iran.Materials and Methods:This cross-sectional, analytical and descriptive study was conducted at one of the teaching hospitals in Tehran, Iran, in 2013. The study population was 344 employees in various occupational groups selected via census. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using some statistical tests, including independent-samples t-test with SPSS software version 21.0.Results:The results showed that only 50.2% of injuries had been reported; 67.8% of all participants (n = 211) had at least one NSI. Most NSIs had been reported in the emergency department (33.5%). Most participants mentioned the injection syringe needles as the main cause of their injuries (71.1% of all NSIs). Among NSIs, those caused by insulin syringe needles (6.2%) were the second cause. In this study, females had NSIs more than males. There was a statistically significant relationship between sex and the rate of NSIs (P < 0.05).Conclusions:Considering the high rate of occupational injuries, further preventive measures should be implemented to prevent these injuries from occurring. Providing initial and continuing training for employees is very important. Directing special attention to emergency department employees may be effective in reducing occupational injuries.

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BackgroundNephrolithiasis is a relatively common problem and a frequent Emergency Department (ED) diagnosis in patients who present with acute flank/abdominal pain. The pain management in these patients is often challenging.ObjectivesTo investigate the most effective dose of morphine with the least side effects in emergency renal colic patients.Materials and Methods150 renal colic patients who experienced a pain level of 4 or greater, based on visual analog scale (VAS) at admission time were included. Pain was scored on a 100 mm VAS (0 = no pain, 100 = the worst pain imagined). When patients arrived at ED, a physician would examine the patients and assessed initial pain score, then filled a questionnaire according to the patient information. Patients were assigned to receive 2.5 mg morphine sulfate intravenously. We monitored patients’ visual analog scale (VAS), and adverse events at different time points (every 15 minutes) for 90 minutes. Additional doses of intravenous morphine (2.5 mg) were administered if the patient still had pain. (Max dose: 10 mg). The cumulative dose of morphine, defined as the total amount of morphine prescribed to each patient during the 90 minutes of the study, was recorded. Patients were not permitted to use any nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs as coadjuvant analgesics during the study period. Subjects with inadequate pain relief at 90 minutes received rescue morphine and were excluded from the study. The primary end point in this study was pain relief at 90 minutes, defined as either VAS<40 or decrease of 50% or more as compared to the initial VAS. The secondary objective was to detect the occurrence of adverse effects at any time points in ED.ResultsThe studied patients consisted of 104 men and 46 women with the mean age of 43 ±14 years (range, 18 to 75 years). There was no statistically significant difference between the mean age and gender differences in pain response. Rescue analgesia at 30 minutes were given in 54.5% receiving morphine. The average time to painless was 35 minutes. But there were no statistically significant differences between the mean age and gender differences in pain response (P > 0.05). Older patients responded sooner to morphine than the young. Most of the patients had a pain score of 90 -100 (77.3 %) at the beginning that was reduced to 29.4% during the 30 minutes follow up. During the first hour, we found that 94.7% of the patients had no pain or significant pain reduction and only 2.1% of the patients still had pain.ConclusionsWe conclude that there were no significant differences among the gender, time of admission and side - effects in renal colic patients in response to morphine.