Safety culture implications on safe work practices and work place exposure incidents in Operation Theater

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: The study was undertaken to estimate the prevalence of body and blood fluid exposure incidents such as needle stick injuries, direct contact, splashes, and cuts among health care personnel (HCP) in operation theaters (OTs). The study objective was to investigate perception of safety culture and potential challenges faced by HCP in Pakistani context. METHODS: An analytical cross-sectional survey was conducted in four tertiary care hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad that were Akbar Niazi Teaching Hospital (ANTH), Fauji Foundation Hospital (FFH), Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) and Holy Family Hospital (HFH) during March, 2019 to June, 2019. The data of the current study was collected from surgical staff in OTs at four tertiary care teaching hospitals including nurses, house officers, post graduate trainees, registrars, consultants, and technicians in the twin cities i.e., Rawalpindi and Islamabad. RESULTS: In our findings (N=367) there was a high prevalence of exposure incidents in past six months, 45% had had got a needle injury, 36% have got a splash, 28.8% had direct contact and 35.6% had a cut once respectively in past six months, the occurrence of exposure incidents twice, thrice and more is also enormous. CONCLUSION: The study reflected a dire need of trainings at hospitals so that very strategically the importance of safety being a priority and value of HCP is inculcated on daily basis.