‘Sharps\' and Sharps Policies; Knowledge of Health Workers at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria

Abstract

In order to reduce and deal with occupational exposure to blood borne pathogens, various policies for dealing with occupational exposure to blood borne diseases are evolving. To ensure implementation and compliance, health workers should be knowledgeable about these policies. This study was conducted at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital to determine the level of awareness and attitude of healthcare workers to sharps and sharps policies. The multistage sampling method was used to select 250 doctors and nurses who participated in the study and the instrument of data collection was a self administered questionnaire. Knowledge of sharps was high among the respondents as majority of them were able to identify items classified as sharps and how the injuries occur. However the knowledge on sharps policies was not as impressive as only 58.9% of respondents had heard of the term “sharps policy”. For those who have heard of it their main sources of information were publications, conferences and seminars. Knowledge of the staff in the hospital on sharps policies should be increased to make implementation and compliance feasible, as this is important to protect staff and patients in the hospital from blood borne infections such as HIV and Hepatitis B.

Nigerian Medical Practitioner Vol. 52 (2) 2007: pp. 42-46