Background: Sharps injuries (SIs) continue to be an outstanding occupational health hazard for healthcare workers due to the potential exposure to bloodborne infectious diseases. Nurses, especially, are at a high risk of SIs due to the frequent use of sharps devices. Previous research has estimated that 11% of nurses experienced an SI within a 12-24 month time period, while 64% of all nurses experienced at least one SI during their career.

Methods: Occupational incident surveillance data among nurses from 2002-2018 from the Massachusetts Sharps Injury Surveillance system were analyzed. Injuries were grouped into three categories for comparison based on the year in which the SI occurred. Chi-squared and Cochran-Armitage trend tests were used to compare SIs between the three time periods and assess trends.

Results: In 2002-2004, 2009-2011, and 2016-2018, a total of 10,400 SIs (38% of all reported SIs) were sustained by nurses. Across all 3-year categories, nurses were most often injured in inpatient units, excluding Intensive Care Units (40-43%), injured by hypodermic needle/syringes (45-55%), and injured by devices used for injections, (36-49%), specifically through subcutaneous injections (45-81%). SIs with devices associated with injection procedures have increased 14% while SIs with devices associated with blood procedures have decreased 8%, P < 0.01. Within injection procedures, SIs occurring through “activating sharps injury protection feature” and “patient moved and jarred device” increased from 2002-2004 by 12%, and 6%, respectively, P< 0.01. From 2002-2004 to 2016-2018, the number of SIs with devices without an engineered sharps injury protection (SESIP) mechanism have decreased by 20%, P< 0.01.

Conclusions: Nurses are at an increased risk of experiencing a SI due to the frequent procedures involving sharps devices. Understanding the specific factors that contribute to SIs will enable the development of targeted interventions aimed at preventing SIs.