Epidemiology of sharp injuries – Prospective EPINet data from five tertiary care hospitals in India – Data for 144 cumulated months, 1.5 million inpatient days

Abstract Aims Sharp injuries (SIs) jeopardize the safety of healthcare workers and are avoidable. This prospective multi-centric study aimed at understanding the epidemiology of sharp injuries in India. This study comes as a sequel to our earlier study, conducted at the same hospitals. Methods The cumulated prospective data of 144 months collected from five participating hospitals during the years 2008–2013 and analysed using the EPINet format. Results During the study period of 2008–2013, there were more than 1.5 million inpatient (IP) days, and 666 SIs (0.43 SIs/1000 IP days) were observed. The data from June 2008 through May 2009 was named data A and from June 2009 through June 2011 as data B. The data in its entirety and the comparison of data A and B was made. The cumulated data showed that the SIs in the patient's room decreased from 0.9 to 0.2 SIs/1000 IP days (27.8%–14.3%). This observation was made in the data from all the participating hospitals; possibly due to providing sharps disposal cans by patient bedside, in addition to aforementioned awareness and educational activities. The SIs among nurses doubled (from 0.01 to 0.02/1000 IP days) and increased among housekeeping personnel. Conclusion SIs caused during the period commencing from completion of injection to disposal decreased in all the participant hospitals, suggesting that the healthcare workers handled the sharps appropriately; however, probably due to wrong disposal, personnel involved in waste disposal got more injuries. Safety engineered devices are not implemented in Indian hospitals despite data supporting their use decreasing SIs.