Impact of Introduction of Safety-Engineered Devices on the Incidence of Sharp Object Injury among Health Care Workers in the Capital Region of Alberta

• Author / Creator

  Lu,Yun

• Information on sharp object injuries occurring at work was obtained for a population of health care workers in the capital region of Alberta from Alberta Health Services to determine the incidence and characteristics of these injuries and the effectiveness of safety devices, introduced in 2007-2008, in preventing them.

  During 2003 to 2010, a total of 4707 sharp object injuries were reported with nurses reporting the majority of injuries (53.7%). The injury rate during the introduction of safety-engineered devices declined from 34.47 to 30.17 injuries per 1,000 FTEs per year (rate ratio [RR]: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.78, 0.99, p=0.03) with a significant reduction amongst nurses (RR =0.85, 95% CI: 0.74-0.97, p=0.02). Physician rates decreased significantly after the intervention (odds ratio [OR] =0.83, 95% CI: 0.71-0.97, p=0.02).

  This study finding was consistent with most previous studies in which implementation of safety-engineered devices substantially reduce sharp object injuries among health care workers.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Safety-Engineered Devices
  • Sharp Object Injury

• Graduation date

  Fall 2012

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3ND0W

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.