Sharps injuries among hospital support personnel

Sharps injuries (SIs) among support personnel in hospitals have received little attention in the scientific literature. A cross-sectional study was undertaken to measure the incidence of SIs in Taiwanese support personnel. All support personnel, including laundry workers, cleaners, porters and central supply workers, from 16 hospitals were surveyed for SIs, sustained between June 1996 and July 1997. Either a questionnaire or face-to-face interviews, for those staff with a literacy problem, were used. Of the 862 persons eligible for study, 79.4% (684) were evaluable. Few staff (30.4%) had attended a prevention programme and 61% had suffered an SI in the past year. Few (25.4%) reported their injury. Hollow-bore needles, of which 72.2% had been used, were associated with 42.2% of injuries. Cleaners sustained the majority (65.7%) of injuries, and inappropriate disposal was associated with 54.7% of all injuries. For those staff employed for more than four years, the risk of sustaining an injury increased significantly with length of employment (P<0.001). Most of the injuries were sustained by cleaners handling sharps inappropriately disposed of by clinical staff. A safer environment for support staff could be achieved with the co-operation of clinical staff to correctly dispose of sharps to ensure single handling of sharps. A formal orientation of support staff in the reporting of SIs would enable clinical assessment and management of injuries, as well as an evaluation of needle and sharps safety in the healthcare setting.