INTRODUCTION: Needle stick injuries are one of the greatest risks faced by the front line healthcare workers in the light of HIV/ AIDS, Hepatitis B and C. Yet, these exposures have often been considered as part of the job and neglected. OBJECTIVE: 1. To study prevalence of needle stick injury among health care workers of a private tertiary care hospital. 2. To assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of needle stick injury among them. METHODOLOGY: Hospital based cross sectional study was

more »

... ried out with preformed pretested questionnaire on all (42) health care workers of a private tertiary care hospital. RESULTS: Results showed that out of 42 subjects 35(83.3%) had a history of needle-stick injury but only 11% reported the injuries to the hospital authority and received PEP prophylaxis against HIV. Only 11 HCW's (26.2%) were aware about where to report the NSI incident. 4.8% and 95.3% of health care workers, respectively, were unaware of the fact that hepatitis B and hepatitis C can be transmitted by needle-stick injuries. Only 21.5% were in the habit of using gloves for phlebotomy procedures all the time. 40.5% were of the impression that needle should not be recapped after use but 21.5% of them didn't implement it. Only 38.1% were aware of Universal Precaution Guidelines. 18 subjects (42.9%) had been vaccinated against hepatitis B; while 26 subjects (47.6%) were not vaccinated against hepatitis B.23 subjects (54.8%) knowing their HBsAg status. Majority of HCW (95.3%) were demanding training and awareness of NSI. CONCLUSION: The study revealed that knowledge among health care workers about the risk associated with needle-stick injuries and use of preventive measures was inadequate. Standard operating procedure (SOP) should be formulated and followed by them. KEY WORDS: Needle stick injury (NSI), Post Exposure prophylaxis (PEP), health care worker (HCW),