The Prevalence of Needlestick Injuries and Exposure to Blood and Body Fluids Among Iranian Healthcare Workers: A Systematic Review

Introduction: This study aimed to systematically review previous studies conducted in Iran on the prevalence of injuries caused by needlestick, sharp, and cutting instruments and exposure to blood and body fluids. Methods: In this systematic review, all published full-text articles authored by Iranian researchers in Farsi or English in the field of needlestick injuries among healthcare workers during the period 2001-2016 were examined. Searches were performed on Iranian databases such as Scientific Information Database (SID), Iran Magazine Information Bank (Mag Iran), Iranian Journals of Nursing (N Index), and Directory of Medical Sciences Articles (Iran Medex) as well as international databases including Google Scholar, ISI Web of Knowledge, Scopus, PubMed, Science Direct, and CINAHL. Results: The prevalence of injuries caused by needles ranged from 10.0% to 84.29% in different studies. The prevalence of exposure to blood and body fluids ranged from 13.46% to 79%. Conclusions: The results indicated that almost half of Iranian healthcare workers during their daily work are at the risk of needlestick injury and exposure to blood and body fluids. Hence, research and needlestick injury reduction strategies should be emphasized, and modifications should be made to organizational factors such as the development of educational programs, prevention along with performance monitoring, engineering factors such as redesigning tools to promote safety, and behavioral factors such as behavior modification of capping needles.