| dc.description.abstract | Background: Needle Stick and Sharps Injuries (NSSIs) are major occupational health hazards among cleaning staff in the healthcare sector yet up to now, there is limited documentation on their occurrence among health facility cleaning staff. Therefore, this study was to determine the prevalence and factors associated with NSSIs among cleaning staff in Mulago Specialised National Referral Hospital, Uganda. Methodology: A facility based cross-sectional study was conducted using structured interviewer administered questionnaires to determine the prevalence of NSSIs from 1st July 2019 to 31st December 2019. The study included 196 cleaning staff working in the hospital. Data was analysed using SPSS version 23. Binary logistic regression was used to identify the predictors and multivariate analysis to identify the factors associated with the NSSIs among the cleaning staff. Results: The prevalence of NSSIs among the cleaning staff was 27.0% in the last six months. About two thirds (62.8%) of the cleaning staff experienced two or more NSSIs in that period. Needles were responsible for about two thirds 62.3% of those injuries. More than half 52.8% of the injuries occurred during arranging equipment. Lack of satisfaction with the work environment [AOR=6.05, 95% CI: (2.46-14.89)], not reporting NSSIs [AOR=7.38, 95% CI: ((3.33-16.34)] were statistically associated with the occurrence of the injuries among the cleaning staff. Conclusion and Recommendations: The study showed a high rate of NSSIs among cleaning staff in Mulago specialised national referral hospital, in Uganda. Lack of satisfaction with the work environment and not reporting NSSIs were associated with occurrence of the injuries. The study suggests that for effective prevention of NSSIs among the cleaning staff, the hospital administrators should formulate a proper surveillance system to monitor NSSIs among the cleaning staff and encourage a proper disposal of sharp materials among HCWs. The supervisors should ensure that cleaning staff are provided with the right physical resources to work with and continue health educating cleaning staff about NSSIs. The cleaning staff should become more vigilant while performing their duties and also make sure that they report all the NSSIs that they experience to the respective authority | en_US |
