الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Needle stick injuries are an occupational hazard and major problem threatens millions of healthcare workers life. Nurses use needles or sharps in procedures during their daily work. Nurses are at a great risk of occupational hazards, especially risk of exposure to blood borne pathogens potentially resulting to infections such as hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This study aimed to assess the prevalence of needle stick injuries or sharps stick injuries among nurse’s working in the Ministry of Health and Population Hospitals in Dakhlia Governorate. A cross- sectional study design was adopted to carry out this study. Four tools were used in this study. 1) self- administered structured questionnaire about nurse’s personal and occupational data, 2) self-administered structured questionnaire about nurse’s knowledge regarding needle stick injuries, 3) self-administered structured questionnaire about nurse’s behavior regarding measures obtained after needle stick injuries and 4) self-administered structured questionnaire about nurse’s subjective practice. The total sample size 364 nurses involved in the study. Proportion allocation technique was used to recruit this study. Results. This study showed that the prevalence of studied nurses who exposed to needle stick injuries was 83.6%, out of them 12.17% infected with hepatitis C, 88.4% of nurses’ injuries in the night shift. The average score of nurses’ knowledge’s’ about NSI was significantly higher among the young age nurses while the average practice score was significantly increased with age. Conclusion. The prevalence of NSI was more than three quarters of nurses especially who were working in the night shift. More than one tenth infected with hepatitis C, less than half of nurses had good knowledge about NSI. Recommendations. Establishment of a surveillance system for registering, reporting and management of occupational exposure in hospitals. Emphasizes the importance of increased awareness, training and education of nurses for reporting and prevention of needle stick injuries.