Percutaneous injuries among hospital based health care workers in the Maritime Provinces: Getting to the point

Percutaneous injuries are costly both financially to the health care system and emotionally to the health care worker. A thorough understanding of the causes and circumstances surrounding these injuries is required to develop effective preventative strategies. Currently little is known about the nature and scope of percutaneous injuries occurring in Canadian hospitals. This study was a secondary analysis of data collected by the Canadian Needle Stick Surveillance Network. Data for 502 reported percutaneous exposures of health care workers occurring over a four year period in three hospitals in the Maritime Provinces were analyzed. A common classification system of key characteristics was developed and injury trends over the 4-year period were examined by: occupational group, device causing injury, purpose of the device, and stage of work when the exposure occurred. Findings indicate that high-risk technicians and support staff may benefit from multi-focused interventions to reduce injury rates.