The prevalence of exposure to blood/body fluids among RNs was high, and the underreporting rate was likely substantially underestimated” Yi et al (2018).
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: In China, register nurses (RNs) have a high risk of occupational exposure to blood/body fluids. The adherence behavior related to self-reporting of occupational exposure needs to be evaluated to protect RNs from healthcare-related infections.
OBJECTIVES: To assess adherence behaviors for self-reporting of occupational exposure to blood and body fluids among RNs and identify factors affecting self-reporting in Hunan Province, China for developing upgraded strategies.
METHODS: Study participants, randomly selected from six tertiary hospitals in Changsha City, completed a structured questionnaire. Frequencies and percentages were used to describe basic demographic data. One-way analysis of variance was performed to assess whether adherence behaviors were correlated to each other; the multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with reporting exposure to blood/body fluids.
RESULTS: In total, 548 RNs completed the questionnaire. All participants experienced sharp object injuries at least once during their career; 65.88% of participants were exposed to blood/body fluids thrice, and 31.2% experienced 1-5 occupational exposures in the past month. However, only 14.6% of participants submitted a blood/body fluid exposure report to a supervisor/official after every incident. Blood/body fluid exposure was associated with the non-usage of safety protocols. Only 10.2% of participants believed the employer paid more attention to needle-stick injuries (P<0.01) than to other injuries. Most participants (73.5%) reported the absence of psychological support after injuries (P<0.01). Nine personal and management factors were observed to be closely related to underreporting behavior. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of exposure to blood/body fluids among RNs was high, and the underreporting rate was likely substantially underestimated. Safety-engineered devices must be adopted to decrease the prevalence of sharp object injuries. To encourage employees to report occupational exposure events, a series of hospital-wide actions need to be adopted.
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Reference:
Yi, Y., Yuan, S., Li, Y., Mo, D. and Zeng, L. (2018) Assessment of adherence behaviors for the self-reporting of occupational exposure to blood and body fluids among registered nurses: A cross-sectional study. PLoS One. 13(9), p.e0202069.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202069.