Needle stick injuries Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Needle stick injuries - Research Paper Example These injuries pose a risk for development of various infectious diseases to the injured threatening their employment, health morbidity and mortality. More than 20 different pathogens have been identified to be transmitted through exposure to body fluids or sharps injury. Injuries by sharps and splashes of body fluids are the main routes of transmission for occupational acquisition of blood-borne pathogens among health care workers (Bi et al, 2008). Despite these injuries being common, they are often under reported and in many places, both health care and non-health care workers are unaware of safety methods to prevent these infections. Globally, needle stick injuries are the most common cause of blood-borne infections among health care workers (Wilburn and Eijekamans, 2004). More than 35 million people worldwide constitute health care work force and they represent 12 percent of the working population in the world (Wilburn and Eijekamans, 2004). It is estimated that people working wi th them as non-health workers are even more in numbers (NHS, 2008). ... In this essay, various concerns pertaining to needle stick injuries will be discussed along with current and best practices and strategies to change. Needle stick injuries: causes, risks and concerns According to the Health Protection Agency report (2008), the most common type of exposure that has been reported among health care workers is the percutaneous injury which accounts for 45 percent of exposures. These exposures contributed to significant seroconversion for HCV, HIV and other diseases. The HIV seroconversion rates reported were high, 0.8 percent. In the NHS, needle stick injury continues to be the most commonly reported adverse incident among healthcare workers, which are a potential source for transmission of various diseases like Hepatitis B and C and human immunodeficiency virus. These injuries are also a potential source of transmission of prion-related diseases. The risk of transmission of hepatitis C with needle stick injuries is 3 percent, for hepatitis B is 30 perce nt and for HIV is 0.3 percent (Elmiyeh et al, 2004). The transmission from the patient to the healthcare worker through the injury depends on the viral load of the patient and also on the amount of blood that passes from the patient to the healthcare worker. Other infections which are transmissible through needle stick injuries are malaria, syphilis and herpes (Wilburn and Eijekamans, 2004). Needle stick injuries: current practices There is uncertain information about the prevalence of the diseases among hospital population and health care workers and non-health workers (Elmiyeh et al, 2004). According to a study by Elmiyeh et al (2004), 38 percent of health care workers had atleast one needle