Nurse-led educational campaign on blood borne pathogens and proper sharps disposal at an urban tertiary hospital in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

• Main Authors: A. Otieno, M. Obogo, V. Mlele, J.A. Bauch*, T.A. Reynolds
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2013-12-01
• Series: African Journal of Emergency Medicine
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211419X13001407

In Africa, where the regional prevalence of HIV is the highest in the world, the rate of needlestick injuries in healthcare workers is also the highest, despite the fact that such injuries are vastly underreported. Needlestick injuries pose a significant risk to healthcare workers and are the most common source of occupational exposure to blood. Due to recurrent needlestick injuries in healthcare workers at the site, nurses from the Muhimbili National Hospital Emergency Medicine Department (MNH EMD) in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania initiated a campaign to teach health assistants, nurses, and medical doctors the hazards of needlestick injuries, and to enforce proper sharps disposal for prevention. Methods: We conducted a 2-week educational campaign on hazards and prevention of needlestick injury. To evaluate the acquisition and retention of lessons from this campaign, 61 participants underwent an immediate and delayed (at 2 months distance) post-training exam. To evaluate the impact of the campaign, we collected data on the rate of overfilled sharps boxes, before, during and after the campaign. Results: Scores on both immediate and delayed testing on bloodborne pathogen transmission and proper sharps disposal were very high. The number of overfilled safety boxes dramatically decreased during and immediately following the training phase of this campaign, but exceeded pre-intervention levels only 2 weeks after the completion of the campaign. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that even with very high levels of immediate and delayed retention of educational content as measured by exam, the impact of an educational intervention on behavioural change may be much more short-lived. This has implications regarding the need for continuous education to support for workplace safety campaigns.