Epidemiology of reported sharps injuries in a tertiary care hospital.

Over a 12-month period 233 puncture wounds were reported in a 1112-bed tertiary medical care centre. Accident forms were reviewed to determine the epidemiology of puncture injuries. The nursing department accounted for the majority of all puncture injuries (68%). For nurses, medical and surgical units represented those clinical areas with the greatest number of puncture injuries. Areas with the highest incidence rates, however, included the clinical research centre, the emergency room, the surgical intensive care unit and areas where the intravenous team operated. Activities involving direct contact of a sharp instrument with a patient accounted for the majority of puncture injuries. Disposable syringes and loose needles were implicated in 50% of injuries although the incidence of injury per individual's low (3.2 out of 100,000 purchased). Recommendations include the redesigning of sharp instruments and the focusing of education programmes to target personnel for whom incidence rates are the highest.