Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Towards Needle Stick Injury and Significance of HBV Vaccination at Cancer Institutes: Basic Work Up Before Implementing Effective Nsi Management Protocols

Introduction: Hospital staff directly involved in patient care are at high risk of occupational exposure to Needle stick injury (NSI). Doctors, Nurses and Housekeeping (HK) staff are the most common health care categories affected physically, financially and socially by NSI. The main objective of the study was to determine NSI prevalence and associated risk factors at a cancer setup and evaluate misconceptions and knowledge gap regarding its prevention and management along with HBV vaccination status among various health care categories and hospital administration. A cross sectional questionnaire-b Materials & Method: ased survey was conducted among doctors, nurses, HK staff, technicians, hospital administration, phlebotomists and pharmacists at tertiary care cancer institutes from January 2022 to October 2023. The overall prevalence of NSI among surveyed health care staff w Results: as 40.58% affecting 29.4% of surveyed staff of which multiple episodes of NSI were commonly observed among doctors and nurses during working at emergency ward, ICU or IPD wards. Majority of doctors and nurses acquired NSI during sample collection and performing procedures, while HK staff got injured during handling and disposal of sharp biomedical waste. Among surveyed staff, 60.2 % were vaccinated for HBV, of which 90% of doctors, 76.5% of nurses, 70.2 % of technicians and only 28.7% of HK staff have completed the vaccination schedule. Among vaccinated staff, 65. 8% of them were not aware about their anti-HBsAg titre. Performance of awareness and training sessions to Discussion: wards handling of NSI and HBV vaccination is suboptimal. Administration and concerned authorities of the hospital need to strengthen these activities with some innovative, practical and user-friendly approaches. Such surveys must be performed by concerned hospital authorities to increase awareness, assess improvement, understand real time deficiencies and implement customized protocols for achieving the safe working environment at health care institutions.