INVESTIGATION OF THE ATTITUDES TOWARDS SHARPS INJURIES AMONG NURSES: A STUDY BASED ON THE HEALTH BELIEF MODEL

Abstract

Objective: to describe the nurses’ attitudes towards sharps injuries based on the health belief model. Method: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at Lam Dong General Hospital. All clinical nurses working in all patient wards where sharp devices were being used and 149 nurses agreed to response the self-completed questionnaires. Results: showed that a majority of nurses had positive attitudes towards the severity of damage caused by sharp devices. The rate of nurses who had positive attitudes to the susceptibility of the disease were also greater than 90%. In general, the belief of nurses in preventive measures was quite high (all items were more than 75%). However, in some contents, the proportion of nurses with negative attitudes accounted for over 16%, and the study also revealed some factors that may considered as barriers including work overload, lack of staff, lack of safety equipment, lack of knowledge. Conclusion: the nurses of the study sample had positive attitudes towards sharp injuries, based on the health belief model, it is anticipated that the nurses within this study are likely to practise the measures for prevention of sharp injuries.