Magnitude Of Exposure To Sharps Injury And Associated Factors Among Nurses And Midwives Working In Nekemte Town Health Institutions, Oromia Region, Ethiopia, 2023

Abstract

Back ground: Sharps injury represents a major occupational hazard in the healthcare environment with nurses and midwives experiencing a large proportion of the burden. It poses a significant threat to a well-being of nurses and midwives but targeted interventions are not employed. Therefore, this study is aimed to assess sharp injuries and associated factors among nurses and mid wives working at health institutions in Nekemte town, oromia, Ethiopia, 2023. Method: A facility based cross sectional study was carried out among 354 nurses and midwives working in Nekemte health facilities. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaire from May-June, 2023. The collected data were checked for completeness, and were entered to Epidata version 3.1 then exported to Statistical package for social science version 24 for further analysis. Frequency distribution, percentages and Odds Ratio with 95% level of confidence was calculated and interpreted accordingly. Binary logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with occupational sharp injury. Variables with �-value less than 0.25 as cutting point in logistic regression analysis were entered into multivariable binary logistic regression model. Multivariable binary logistic regression models were fitted to control the possible effect of confounders. Finally, variables whose p value less than 0.05 (p≤0.05) in multivariable binary logistic regression was declared as statistically significant. Result: A total of 354 study participants were included in the final analysis and giving a response rate of 98.3%. The magnitude of exposure to sharps injury among Nurses and midwives who are working in Nekemte town during the last 12 months of 2022/2023 was 33.6% at 95% CI. This study indicated that being male (AOR = 2.30, 95% CI: 1.38,3.81), having less work experience (AOR=2.44, 95% CI: 1.23,4.80), not being vaccinated for HBV (AOR=0.25 95% CI: 0.13,0.51), recapping needle (AOR = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.01, 2.92) and who did not use safety measures to prevent diseases transmission by sharp injury (AOR=2.51, 95% CI: 1.01, 6.19) had significant association with the occurrence of sharp injury on nurses and Midwives. Conclusion and recommendation: This study demonstrated high magnitude of sharps injury among nurses and midwives of Nekemte town health institutions. The high magnitude of Sharps injury highlights the need for developing targeted interventions and effective preventive strategies.