OBJECTIVES:
Based on multicenter
research among
tertiary hospitals in
Korea, it was our
intention to effectively contribute to the prevention of
needlestick injuries by
understanding the current
state of the
incidence rate of
needlestick injuries and the related
epidemiology with
respect to medical institution and
worker's characteristics.
METHODS:
Ten
hospitals were selected, with the
research performed from July to September 2007. Data on cases of
needlestick injuries were collected by
hospital infection-controlling centers using a specifically developed website and a partially modified
self-
writing questionnaire based on the Exposure Prevention
Information Network (EPINet).
RESULTS:
During the study period, a total of 327
needlestick injury cases were reported, with an
incidence of 10.56 cases per 100
patient beds per year. The existence of source of
infection could not be confirmed in one third of the
needlestick injuries. There were 4.07
incidences per 100
employees per year. The job with the highest
incidence was medical doctor interns (18.66 cases), followed by
clinical laboratory workers (7.12 cases) and
registered nurses (6.66 cases).
CONCLUSIONS:
There was no difference in number of
incidences according to the number of
beds. The highest number of cases occurred in the
registered nurse-group, but the
incidence rate per
healthcare worker was the highest in the medical doctor intern-group. Therefore, it is important to conduct
research to identify the
risk of the
incidence with
respect to different
risk-groups. As a result of this
research, it is suggest that a protective
policy is required relating to
needlestick injuries, regardless of the number of
beds and potential cause of
infection.