Effect of Education on Stress of Exposure to Sharps Among Nurses in Emergency and Trauma Care Wards

BACKGROUND: Health care services can cause injuries to medical staff. One of these injuries is exposure to needle-sticks. This can result in the transmission of blood-borne diseases, such as HIV and hepatitis B; the staff undergo continuous stress. Thus, it is necessary to use some method to reduce this stress. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of education based on the stabilization model on stress induced exposure to needle sticks among nurses working in emergency and trauma wards. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This Quast- Experiental Study was performed on 35 nurses working in emergency and trauma wards of our hospital in October-December 2013. Data were collected using a two-part questionnaire; Reliability and validity of the questionnaire were confirmed (α = 0. 92 and ICC = 0.94).Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. The one-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, independent t-test and paired sample t-test were also used. RESULTS: The mean and standard deviation of stress experienced by nurses before and after the intervention were 64.94 ± 15.67 and 43.91 ± 10.73, respectively. Findings indicated that education decrease needle stick stress in nurses significantly (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: According to the results of this study, the stress level induced due to needle-stick exposure and its complications is high and interventions for reduction are essential.