title: Prevalence of occupational accidents/Injuries among health care workers in a federal medical centre in southern Nigeria.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Health care workers (HCWs) are prone to occupational accidents and injuries such as needle pricks in the course of their day to day activities in the health care setting.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence of needle sticks and other occupational exposures among HCWs in a Nigerian tertiary hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a descriptive cross sectional design involving all the doctors, and all laboratory workers and a selection of nurses. A structured, pre-tested, selfadministered questionnaire was the tool for data collection.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 167 HCWs made up of 47 (28.1%) doctors, 100 (59.9%) nurses and 20 (12.0%) laboratory workers were interviewed. Twenty-five (53.2%) doctors, 53 (53.0%) nurses and 10 (50.0%) laboratory workers making a total of 88 (52.7%) HCWs had had needle pricks, while 28 (59.6%) doctors, 53 (53.0%) nurses and 8 (40.0%) laboratory workers making a total of 89 (53.3%) have had blood splashes. A higher proportion of nurses 54 (54.0%) had cuts from drug ampoules than doctors (34.0%) while 16 (36.2%) doctors had glove perforation during surgery compared to nine (9.0%) nurses. Only 43 (25.7%) HCWs reported to the staff clinic after sustaining accidents/injuries.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of needle sticks and other occupational accidents/injuries among HCWs in the Federal Medical Centre, Asaba, Nigeria is high. There is also a high rate of non-reporting of these injuries to relevant authorities. All health facilities should have a written injection safety policy and a post-exposure protocol and HCWs should be continually educated on them.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health, School of Medicine, University of Benin, P. M. B. 1154, Benin City, Nigeria.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Isara
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Ofili
mesh_terms: D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016602:Needlestick Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D060051:Occupational Injuries / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D011050:Policy Making; D015995:Prevalence; D017751:Safety Management / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires