Sharps and needle-stick injuries among medical residents and healthcare professional students: pattern and reporting in Italy—a cross-sectional analytical study

Abstract

ObjectivesHealthcare workers, in the course of their professional activity, are potentially exposed to chemical, physical and above all biological risks. The aims of our study were to investigate the extent and distribution of needle-stick and sharp injuries (NSIs) in healthcare students, the behaviours and circumstances most frequently associated with NSIs, the frequency of NSI reporting and the adherence to the post-exposure protocols.MethodsThis study involved, through an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire, undergraduate and postgraduate students attending postgraduate medical schools and healthcare professional schools who underwent occupational health visits between January 2015 and July 2018.ResultsOf the 642 students that participated in the study, 95 (14.8%) sustained an NSI during the traineeship and, of these, 59 (62.1%) reported the NSI to the occupational health service. NSIs were significantly more frequent in older subjects (χ²=9.853, p=0.020) and, among medical residents, in surgical residents (χ²=31.260, p<0.0001); moreover, occurrence of NSIs increased with increasing duration of traineeship (t=−2.051, p=0.041). Reporting of NSIs significantly increased with increasing age (χ²=12.543, p=0.006), with medical residents significantly under-reporting NSIs compared with undergraduate healthcare professional students (χ²=10.718, p=0.001) and among medical residents, those attending critical care units had the highest under-reporting (χ²=7.323, p=0.026).ConclusionsThe study showed remarkable under-reporting, as well as a lack of preparedness of students for NSI preventive and post-exposure effective measures. Our findings underline that healthcare student education should be reinforced to ensure that safe practices are carried out when needles and sharps are involved, as well as stressing the importance of NSI reporting and adherence to post-exposure prophylaxis protocols.

Chemical risk and safety awareness, perception, and practices among research laboratories workers in Italy

“…Exposure to chemical compounds occurs in numerous occupational settings, among which the research and healthcare laboratories, that are characterized by the extreme variability of the used compounds and by the frequent turnover of young researchers. However, chemical hazards have been explored in detail in several industrial and agricultural occupational settings [9][10][11][12], whereas in research or healthcare laboratories, attention has been particularly devoted to biological hazards [13][14][15]. Indeed, in a review on chemical exposure and related health risks in laboratory workers, studies (mainly retrospective cohorts and case-control) investigating incidence and mortality for several cancers, including numerous cancer sites, and occurrence of reproductive adverse events, such as miscarriage, low birth weight and malformations in chemistry and biology laboratory workers have been extensively reviewed, and they report contrasting results, with some showing an association and others not [16].…”

Occupational Safety and Health Training for Undergraduates Nursing Students: A Spanish Pilot

“…Other impressive results were the frequency of biological accidents that was lower than other studies, like Zhang et al, that indicated up to 60.3% of nursing students suffered a needle stick or sharps injuries [ 19 ]. A European study recently indicated up to 14.8% of biological accidents among healthcare students and residents [ 17 ]. This variation of frequency of biological accidents might be related to the students’ range or the previous training, which could explain the similarities between the Italian and the current study.…”

“…Among the undergraduate healthcare students, the nursing students have a higher risk of exposure to pathogens because of their direct contact with the patients, lack of knowledge and safety culture, and more willingness to take risks [ 16 ]. Furthermore, data about biological accidents among nurses’ students continues to reduce, except from previous studies carried out in other countries, such as Italy [ 17 , 18 ] or China [ 19 ]. Moreover, only a few researchers have recently studied the incidence of biological accidents, knowledge and safety culture among nursing students in Spain [ 20 ].…”

“…Nevertheless, current platforms, focused on risk prevention and occupational training and for undergraduate nursing students, continues to be lacking, which could make more difficult to improve their safety culture. Despite the incidence, low rate of prevention measures compliance, and safety culture [ 29 ], the current nursing students seemed not to be a priority, being included in the articles more as secondary actors [ 17 ]. Nevertheless, the education, aptitude, and knowledge of the undergraduate nursing student will define them as healthcare workers, and the future of the safety culture in this specific group [ 30 ].…”

Is There Any Opportunity to Provide an HBV Vaccine Booster Dose before Anti-Hbs Titer Vanishes?

“…These considerations have led to suggest that there is no evidence to recommend a booster dose. On the other hand, there are several studies, in particular in an occupational setting where testing of the anti-HBs titer is frequently performed because its decline is not desirable due to the risk of needlestick injuries [ 13 ]. These studies suggest the loss of protection in HBV vaccinated subjects that show an undetectable (<2.00 mIU/mL) anti-HBs titer [ 1 , 14 ].…”