Job stress and needlestick injuries: which targets for organizational interventions?

Needlestick injuries (NSIs) represent a major concern for the safety of health care workers involved in clinical care. The percentage of health workers reporting these injuries varies between 9 and 38% and the occurrence of NSI is most frequent among employees having close clinical contact with patients or patient specimens. These injuries appear to occur most frequently where organizational factors contribute to the risk.

To investigate the interactions between organizational level interventions focused on work-related stress (WRS) and the occurrence of NSIs among nurses employed in hospital departments, and to determine the impact of such interventions on the safety budget.

Comparison of NSI occurrence among nurses employed in hospital health care departments in two 3-year periods, before and after interventions aimed at minimizing WRS. The economic cost of NSIs occurrence was calculated.

The study group consisted of 765 nurses. The cumulative 3-year incidence of NSIs after the implementation of management stress interventions was significantly lower than the cumulative 3-year incidence observed before implementation (OR 0.60; 95% CI 0.43-0.83). A cost saving from managing fewer NSIs than during the first study period was found.

This study found a reduction in NSI occurrence and associated costs following an intervention to bring about proactive, integrated and comprehensive management of stress in the workplace.