Exposure to Biological Hazards and Associated Factors among Health Care Workers in Public Hospitals of West Shoa Zone, Central Ethiopia

Abstract

Back-ground: Occupational exposure to biological hazards is a serious concern for health care workers, and presents a major risk for the transmission of infections such as HIV and hepatitis viruses. Objective: To assess the exposure to biological hazards and associated factors among health care workers in Hospitals of west Shoa Zone, central Ethiopia. Methods: A cross-sectional study, involving 204 health care workers, was conducted in west Shoa zone from October 9/10/2013-30/10/2013.Purposive sampling was used for qualitative study but for the quantitative study all study populations were included. A pre-tested, self-administered structured questionnaire was used for quantitative data collection. Odds ratio with 95% confidence interval and binary logistic regression analysis were used to measure the degree of association between the dependent variable and the explanatory variables. Result: About 31.8% and 65.7% of respondents sustained needle stick injuries and exposed to body fluids respectively within the last one year. The rate of needle stick injuries was also estimated at 1.95 injuries/ health care workers/year. Factors associated with occurrence of injuries were being a nurse (AOR=3.03, 95%CI=2.30, 10.4), attending many patients (AOR=2.07, 95%CI=1.35, 3.34), inconsistent use of personal protective equipments (AOR=2.23, 95%CI =1.25, 5.29) and recapping of used needles (AOR=2.34, 95%CI=1.78, 3.94) and not being trained on infection prevention(AOR=1.98,95%CI=1.46,4.77).Exposure to body fluids was also associated with being female(AOR=3.94,95%CI=2.09,7.40),age <30 years being (AOR=1.87, 95%CI=1.02,3.92),nurse(AOR=3.45,95%CI=1.22,9.8),not being trained on infection prevention(AOR=4.39,95%CI=1.98,9.70) and inconsistent use of personal protective equipments(AOR=2.79,95%CI=1.35,13.04). Conclusion: Generally, the study showed that exposure to biological hazards during patient care among health care workers was high in the study area. So the management and the HCWs should take measure to minimize these problems, by giving training on infection prevention, by strengthening infection prevention committee, regular surveillance, availing adequate personal protective equipment, focus on immunization.