Needlestick and sharps injuries among Turkish nursing students: A cross‐sectional study

Irmak Z, Baybuga MS. International Journal of Nursing Practice 2011; 17 : 151–157 Needlestick and sharps injuries among Turkish nursing students: A cross‐sectional study This cross‐sectional study was performed to investigate the prevalence of and other factors associated with needlestick and sharps injuries (NSIs) among nursing students in Turkey. A total of 60 (19.4%) nursing students reported NSIs during the past 1 year. The most common item causing injury was from a syringe needle (54.0%). Among nursing students, giving intravenous/intramuscular injections (60.0%) was the most common cause of NSIs. In total, 31.7% were not using gloves when injured. A total of 68.3% of NSIs were said to have gone unreported in any official report. A total of 43.5% of the nursing students had not received the hepatitis B vaccine. Finally, no single sociodemographic variables were shown to be significant as a risk factor for needlestick and sharps injury during logistic regression analysis. To decrease NSIs among nursing students, an education programme related to NSIs and standard precautions must be provided and immunized against hepatitis B before beginning clinical practice.