National Survey of Sharps Injuries Incidence Amongst Healthcare Workers in the United States

Reporting sharps injuries is crucial for healthcare worker occupational safety. However, these incidents are often underreported, thus posing potentially dangerous working environments. Previous small and limited studies have quantified this underreporting in specific groups of healthcare workers. This study aims to expand on these studies by further quantifying sharps injury incidences through a national study, thus better understanding healthcare reporting behaviors and the reasons for underreporting.

This is a national, multi-center, cross-sectional study conducted via an online anonymous survey distributed through email among United States attending physicians, fellows, residents, medical students, and nurses of all specialties (ie, surgery, medicine, pediatrics). Data analysis used descriptive statistics and regressive modeling with significance defined as p<0.05.

Of over 3000 surveys emailed, 460 (15.3%) healthcare workers responded. The most vulnerable cohort to report sharps injuries were medical students (0.87 injuries per year ±0.69, n=92) and Postgraduate Year (PGY) 1 (0.67±0.81, n=71), PGY2 (0.86±-0.82, n=48), and PGY3 (0.92±0.8, n=45) resident physicians. Healthcare workers in surgical fields reported significantly higher likelihoods (odds ratio=4.61, p<0.001, 95% confidence interval 2.83-7.26) of sharps injuries. Medical students reported sharps injuries the least (40%) and nurses reported sharps injuries the most frequently (71%). The three most common reasons for not reporting sharps injuries included (1) healthcare workers perceiving low infection risk based on patient medical history, (2) fear of peer perception, and (3) belief of lack of reporting utility or that reporting is inconsequential.

Medical students and physicians early in training, especially those in surgical fields, are more vulnerable to sharps injuries, but are less likely to report, while nurses are the most likely to report. Dedicated sharps training, education to reduce stigma around injury, and implementing a simplified reporting process may help encourage reporting as well as consistency in reporting, leading to improved workplace safety.