Procedure-specific rates for needlestick injuries in health care workers

To assess the rates of needlestick injuries (NSIs) from different types of injection procedures in health care workers, we conducted a prospective study in a university hospital in Taiwan. NSIs in the departments of internal medicine and surgery were prospectively monitored during July 1994-March 1995. All the injured were interviewed to identify their associated procedures. The corresponding numbers of injection procedures were collected during the study period to estimate the denominator of medical procedures. A total of 81 cases of contaminated NSIs were actively collected over a 9-month period compared with 54 NSIs from a routine self-reporting system. Procedures involving intravenous catheter stylets had the highest needlestick injury rate, 43.5/100,000, followed by blood transfusion and blood drawing, 17.7 and 13.3/100,000, respectively. These rates may aid priority setting to introduce safer needle devices when resources are limited.