Occupational Exposures during Clinical Practice of Candidate Health Professionals: Needlestick Injuries and Occupational Knowledge Levels

Background: Due to limited opportunities for clinical experience and insufficient knowledge levels, students in health programmes are at high risk of needlestick injuries. The aim of this study is to identify needlestick injuries experienced by medical faculty, nursing and laboratory programme stude...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of caring sciences 2021-01, Vol.14 (1), p.695-704
Main Authors: Celikkalp, Ulfiye, Irmak, Aylin Yalcin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Clinical medicine
Consent
Hepatitis B
Hospitals
Knowledge
Medical laboratories
Medical personnel
Medicine
Needlestick injuries
Nursing
Personal information
Professionals
Questionnaires
Students
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Summary:Background: Due to limited opportunities for clinical experience and insufficient knowledge levels, students in health programmes are at high risk of needlestick injuries. The aim of this study is to identify needlestick injuries experienced by medical faculty, nursing and laboratory programme students during clinical practice, and to assess the knowledge and attitude of injured or uninjured students about occupational risks. Methods: The study was carried out with 452 students from the Faculty of Medicine, School of Health and Associate Degree Programmes of a university interning in hospitals. A total of 435 students were questioned about needlestick injuries they experienced during their clinical practice. Results: It was determined that 206 (47.4%) students had needlestick injuries during clinical practice. The mean occupational risk information score of the students was found to be 18.76±5.64. In the study, it was determined that the highest knowledge score (22.78±4.52), was obtained from the medical faculty students, and the highest needlestick injuries were found in the nursing department (66.0%). There was a significant difference between needlestick injuries and service, age, school, weekly hours of clinical practice, and level of knowledge. Injuries occurred more often among young and inexperienced students who have less knowledge about occupational risk factors (p
ISSN:1791-5201
1792-037X