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176133 Risk factors for percutaneous injuries in home healthcare registered nursesWednesday, October 29, 2008: 9:00 AM
Purpose: Although the acuity of care is increasing in the home healthcare sector, which is the fastest growing sector in health care, data on risk and risk factors for percutaneous injuries (PI) among registered nurses (RNs) in this setting are particularly sparse. We recently conducted a large study of PIs in a convenience sample of NYS RNs.
Method: A multi-method recruitment strategy was employed to obtain a large, representative sample of NYS RNs. A five-page paper survey was self-administered. Results: 104 of 738 respondents reported experiencing a PI in the prior three years (a rate of 5.2% per year or 52 PIs per 1000 workers/year). Significant risk factors for PIs included: mandatory overtime (O.R. = 2.44), poor compliance with standard precautions (O.R. = 1.72), weak safety climate (O.R. = 1.88), unsafe household environments (O.R. = 1.98), threatened or experienced physical abuse (O.R. = 3.46), and actual physical abuse (O.R. = 3.91). Conclusions: PI rates in this sample of home healthcare RNs were higher than some recent published rates for hospital RNs. Risk reduction strategies that are tailored to address unique aspects of the home care environment need to be developed, implemented and evaluated in order to reduce risk in this population.
Learning Objectives: Keywords: Home Care, Injuries
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the principal investigator of the study. I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.
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