Health belief model to predict sharps injuries among health care workers at first level care facilities in rural Pakistan

Background: We assessed the frequency and predictors of sharp injuries (SIs) among health care workers (HCWs) at first level care facilities (FLCF) in rural Pakistan. Method: HCWs working at public clinic (PC), privately owned licensed practitioners' clinic (LPC) and non-licensed practitioners' clinic(NLC) were interviewed on universal precautions (UPs) and constructs of health belief model (HBM) to assess their association with SIs through negative-binomial regression. Results: From 365 clinics, 485 HCWs were interviewed. Overall annual rate of SIs was 192/100 HCWs/year; 78/100 HCWs among licensed prescribers, 191/100 HCWs among non-licensed prescribers, 248/100 HCWs among qualified assistants, and 321/100 HCWs among non-qualified assistants. Increasing knowledge score about bloodborne pathogens (BBPs) transmission (rate-ratio (RR): 0.93; 95%CI: 0.89-0.96), fewer years of work experience, being a non-licensed prescriber (RR: 2.02; 95%CI: 1.36-2.98) licensed (RR: 2.86; 9%CI: 1.81-4.51) or non-licensed assistant (RR: 2.78; 95%CI: 1.72-4.47) compared to a licensed prescriber, perceived barriers (RR: 1.06; 95%CI: 1.03-1.08), and compliance with UPs scores (RR: 0.93; 95%CI: 0.87-0.97) were significant predictors of SIs. Conclusion: Improved knowledge about BBPs, compliance with UPs and reduced barriers to follow UPs could reduce SIs to HCWs.