Prevalence and causes of unreported needle stick injuries among health care workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Razieh Behzadmehr, Abbas Balouchi, Mehran Hesaraki, Farshid Alazmani Noodeh, Hosein Rafiemanesh, Abdulqadir J. Nashwan, Fateme Behmaneshpour, Malihe Rahdar, Majid Dastres, Shahaboddin Atharyan, Maryam Jahantigh, Frood Malekshahi
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Health care workers (HCWs) are exposed to needle needles daily. Despite individual studies, there is no statistics on the prevalence of unreported needle stick injuries (NSIs) have been reported. This study was performed to determine the prevalence and causes of unreported NSIs among HCWs. CONTENT: In present systematic review and meta-analysis study, three international databases (Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed) were searched from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2018. The random model was used to determine the prevalence of unreported needle stick among HCWs. SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK: Forty-one studies performed on 19,635 health care workers entered the final stage. Based-on random effect model, pooled prevalence of unreported needle stick injuries was 59.9% (95% CI: 52.0, 67.7; I2=98.9%). The most common cause of unreported NSIs was: They were not worried about NSIs (n=12). The high prevalence of unreported needle sticks injuries indicates the urgency and necessity of paying attention to strategies to improve reporting among health workers.