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Effect of Needle-Stick Injury Prevention Education on Safe Sharps-Handling Practices among Healthcare Workers in Nigeria

Abstract

Needle-stick injuries are an important occupational health and patient-safety concern among healthcare workers in Nigeria and may expose workers to blood-borne pathogens, including hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and human immunodeficiency virus. Healthcare workers may be at risk of needle-stick injuries during injections, blood collection, surgical procedures, disposal of used needles, recapping of needles, and other sharps-related activities. Inadequate knowledge, unsafe work practices, heavy workloads, insufficient safety equipment, poor waste-disposal systems, and limited occupational health training may increase the risk of sharps injuries. Needle-stick injury prevention education provides an opportunity to improve healthcare workers' knowledge of occupational risks and promote safe sharps-handling practices, including appropriate use of safety devices, immediate disposal of used sharps, avoidance of needle recapping, use of personal protective equipment, and appropriate reporting and post-exposure procedures. Against this background, this study investigates the effect of needle-stick injury prevention education on safe sharps-handling practices among healthcare workers in Nigeria. The study will be anchored on the Health Belief Model, Social Cognitive Theory, and Occupational Health and Safety Framework. The Health Belief Model explains how healthcare workers' perceived susceptibility to needle-stick injuries, perceived severity of blood-borne infections, perceived benefits of preventive practices, perceived barriers, and cues to action may influence safe sharps handling. Social Cognitive Theory explains how healthcare workers may acquire and maintain safe practices through observational learning, modelling, reinforcement, social interaction, and self-efficacy. The Occupational Health and Safety Framework emphasizes hazard identification, risk assessment, worker education, engineering controls, safe work procedures, incident reporting, and post-exposure management as essential components of occupational injury prevention. Collectively, these theoretical perspectives provide a suitable framework for explaining how needle-stick injury prevention education may influence safe sharps-handling practices among healthcare workers in Nigeria. The study will adopt a quantitative quasi-experimental or analytical cross-sectional research design. The study population will comprise healthcare workers aged 18 years and above who routinely handle needles and other sharps in selected public and private healthcare facilities across Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique will be used to select geopolitical zones, states, healthcare facilities, departments, professional categories, and eligible healthcare workers. Needle-stick injury prevention education will be assessed using indicators such as frequency and duration of training, educational content, training on standard precautions, demonstrations of safe sharps handling, instruction on needle disposal, information on avoidance of needle recapping, use of safety-engineered devices, personal protective equipment, incident reporting, post-exposure prophylaxis, hepatitis B vaccination, and opportunities for questions and practical demonstrations. Safe sharps-handling practices will be assessed using indicators such as immediate disposal of used sharps into appropriate sharps containers, avoidance of needle recapping, correct handling and transportation of sharps, appropriate use of personal protective equipment, proper placement of sharps containers, safe disposal practices, reporting of needle-stick injuries, and compliance with post-exposure procedures. Data will be collected using structured questionnaires, knowledge assessment tools, sharps-handling practice checklists, direct workplace observation where appropriate, training attendance records, occupational injury registers, and relevant healthcare facility documents. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize participants' characteristics, occupational exposure, education received, and safe sharps-handling practices. Inferential statistical techniques, including chi-square tests, t-tests, correlation analysis, and logistic or multiple regression analysis where appropriate, will be used to determine the effect of needle-stick injury prevention education on safe sharps-handling practices. Where a quasi-experimental design is adopted, practice scores before and after the educational intervention may be compared with those of a comparison group to determine changes associated with the intervention. Diagnostic tests will also be conducted to assess the reliability, validity, and robustness of the findings. The study is expected to find that needle-stick injury prevention education has a significant positive effect on safe sharps-handling practices among healthcare workers in Nigeria. Healthcare workers exposed to structured and practical prevention education are expected to demonstrate greater compliance with recommended sharps-handling practices than workers without comparable exposure. Practical demonstrations and repeated training may improve workers' knowledge, confidence, and ability to safely handle, transport, and dispose of needles and other sharps. Education may also strengthen awareness of the risks associated with needle-stick injuries and encourage prompt reporting and appropriate post-exposure management following an injury. However, inadequate availability of puncture-resistant sharps containers, shortages of personal protective equipment, heavy workloads, staff shortages, inadequate supervision, poor waste-management systems, and inconsistent enforcement of safety policies may limit the effectiveness of educational interventions. The study therefore expects regular, practical, adequately supervised, and institutionally supported needle-stick injury prevention education to contribute significantly to improved safe sharps-handling practices among healthcare workers in Nigeria. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on occupational health, needle-stick injury prevention, sharps safety, healthcare worker safety, infection prevention and control, occupational health education, and public health in Nigeria. The findings will provide useful information to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, state ministries of health, healthcare institutions, infection prevention and control committees, occupational health professionals, hospital managements, healthcare professional associations, and policymakers regarding strategies for reducing occupational exposure to blood-borne infections. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for strengthening regular sharps-safety education, improving availability of appropriate sharps-disposal containers and safety equipment, enforcing standard precautions, strengthening incident-reporting systems, improving access to post-exposure care, and integrating needle-stick injury prevention into routine infection prevention and occupational health programmes across healthcare facilities in Nigeria.

Keywords: Needle-stick injury prevention, prevention education, safe sharps handling, healthcare workers, occupational health, infection prevention and control, blood-borne infections, sharps safety, workplace safety, Nigeria, public health.