Evaluation of work accidents in nurses who work in state hospital

Aim : As a result of occupational accidents at the hospital, many people get sick, get injured, lose their lives and result in huge financial losses. Nurses, who make up a large part of the health manpower, face various health risks in their working life. This study was conducted to evaluate occupational accidents that nurses have been exposed to for the last year. Material and Methods: The study is a cross-sectional type descriptive study. The research was carried out in the Mardin State Hospital between 01.04.2018-30.04.2018. The number of nurses working between these dates constitutes the universe (n=315). It is aimed to reach the whole universe by not selecting the sample. A questionnaire including socio-demographic characteristics, working life and occupational accidents was used and questionnaires were applied by face to face interview technique. The consent form of the nurses who accepted to participate in the study and the permission of the ethics committee of the institution were obtained. The data collected within the scope of the study were evaluated by means of the spss program. Results : In the study,it was found that 36,5% of the nurses had work accidents during their working life and 25,6% of them had a work accident in the last year; 41,3% contaminated blood and body fluids, 30,8% needlestick injuries, ampoule cut, lancet and scissor cut. It was found that the services, where the accident occured, were 24%, surgical service and 24% internal service. Rate of using the personal protective equipment in the accidents was 55,8%. The most frequent injury zones were the hand and fingers and the accidents occured most frequently on tuesday and monday, the accident most frequently during at 12.00-15.59, 08.00-11.59. Conclusion: It has been determined that occupational accidents are an important problem in nurses and they are also exposed to many risk factors that threaten the health and safety of nurses in the work environment. Nurses are a risky group in terms of occupational accidents and are frequently involved in work accidents and do not report occupational accidents. It is important to make the necessary arrangements to minimize the occupational risks in the hospital working environment.