Needlestick Injuries: Occurrence, Prevention, and Impacts

Running Head: NEEDLESTICK INJURIES
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NeedleStick Injuries
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NEEDLESTICK INJURIES
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Needle Stick Injuries
Needlestick injury (NSI) or percutaneous injury is described as the penetration of the
human skin by a sharp needle or other objects which have been in contact with someone
else's blood, body fluids or tissues before the exposure. The occurrence of injury in North
America and the globe, how it occurs, and how to prevent it, will be discussed in this essay.
Needlestick injuries are the common injuries that occur within the health care system.
According to the world health organization (2018), nearly 2 million health worker experience
percutaneous exposure to different infectious diseases worldwide annually. Among all the
exposures 37.6 percent hepatitis B, nearly 39 percent of Hepatitis C, and 4.4 percent people
were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS due to needlestick injuries around the globe. Among all the
global cases of hepatitis B and C, more than a third and 5 percent of HIV cases occurred due
to NSIs Particularly in Europe 1 million needlestick injuries occurred In the United States
600,000 to 800, 000 needlestick injuries occur each year (Parantainen, Verbeek, Lavoie, &
Pahwa, 2012). Millions of health care professionals such as nurses and physicians in North
America use sharp needles to perform the daily work; hence they are at high risk of having
needlestick injuries. A study conducted by Gillis (2000), in North America there are still
12,000 healthcare professionals, who acquire Hepatitis B annually and between two hundred
to three hundred of these professionals die directly or indirectly because of these types of
exposures. Nearly 781 to 1484 needlestick injuries occur each year the US MRFs (Recycling
Production, 2018).
Needlestick injuries are the wounds that accidentally puncture the skin. Needlestick
injuries can happen at any stage of their use to inject medicine to the patient, disposal after
use, and disassemble the sharp needle and through it to the specific garbage bin. These types
of injuries happen because of dangerous equipment used in stressful, fast-paced and