A STUDY ON THE RISK FACTORS OF NEEDLE STICK AND CONTACT WITH SECRETIONS FROM PATIENTS AMONG THE STUDENTS OF URMIA UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES

Every year a large number of health care workers deal with threats that are harmful for their health. Medical science students in comparison with personnel are commonly exposed to blood and body fluids. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the risk factors of needle stick and contact with secretions from patients among the Students of Urmia University of Medical Sciences.
Material & This cross-sectional study implemented on 550 students of Urmia University of Medical Sciences in 2015. A data collection tool is a questionnaire in two parts. The first part gathered demographic information with seven questions, and the second part consisted 26 questions in three sections: general information related to needle stick, questions related to patient contact with sharp objects, and contact with the patient's secretions. The data were analyzed using the statistical software SPSS-18 by applying descriptive statistics and chi-square.
The results showed that participants aged between 19 and 34 years. The mean age of participants was 22.19 ± 1.76,189 (36.6%) of students had experienced at least one needle stick during the training period, 67(36.8%) of the students determined lack of caution as greatest reason, and 68(40%) students stated that overcrowding of hospital wards as environmental factors, can lead to needle stick. Creating of intravenous line procedure leading to the confrontation was the most frequent factor 48 (25.4%). Chi-square tests showed a significant relationship between the incidences of sharps injuries with gender (P High levels of exposure with sharp objects and patients secretions necessitate the need for training programs about the safety of students.