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The frequency of needlestick injury in selected private and public hospitals like Mindanao Sanitarium Hospital, Dr. Uy Hospital Incorporated and Gregori T. Lluch Memorial Hospital were obtained in this study in Iligan City which was conducted within four months specifically from November 2007-February 2008.Data were obtained through survey questionnaire. Needlestick injury is the accidental introduction into the body of health care worker, during the performance of his or her duties, of blood or other potentially infectious material or hollow-bore needle or sharp instrument, needles, lancets, scalpels and contaminated broken glass which penetrates the skin or mucosa. Many needlestick injuries are avoidable if proper policies are implemented. Every year, hundreds of health care workers are exposed to deadly diseases like Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Hepatitis B Virus and Hepatitis C Virus, and other bloodborne pathogens through needlestick and sharp injuries. In this study, the researchers obtained information about needlestick injuries with the use of survey questionnaires. There were a total of 101 nurses who were subjects to study coming from three hospitals in Iligan City namely Gregorio T. Lluch Memorial Hospital (39), Dr. Uy Hospital Incorporated (18) and Mindanao Sanitarium and Hospital (44). Descriptive statistics was widely used among the data gathered to describe the basic features of these data. There were about 255 needlestick injuries gathered among 101 nurses from the three mentioned hospitals. Among the 101 respondents, 80.19% (81) had acquired injuries with sharps and only 19.80% (20) did not. Fourteen out of the 81 (17.28%) respondents, who sustained sharps injuries, reported their needlestick accidents to the administration while the 67 (82.72%) nurses did not bother to report when they obtained the injury. Most of these sharps injuries went unreported to their respective institutions, for 82.74% (211/255). Fifty-six percent (56%) of the sharps injuries gathered during procedures for intravenous therapy. Disposable syringes, which accounted 39%, were the devices involved in the majority of injuries (93/255). The largest number of injuries reported (75/255, 32%) fell into the broadly defined category of recapping. Awareness of the possibility of acquiring needlesticks or sharps injuries of respondents is very high (99%) and they believe that there is a high risk of obtaining bloodborne infections with these injuries. Despite the awareness of having a high risk of acquiring bloodborne diseases from sharps injuries, nurses remain to be lenient and most of the injuries were left unreported.

There is a significant frequency of needlestick injuries. It obviously shows that a problem is present. The nurses should be very conscious when it comes to percutaneous injuries. We might not know that bloodborne pathogens aside from HIV, HBV and HCV can be fatal. This poses great risk, not just to the health care providers but also, to the lives of patients, who they always encounter every time of the day. The researchers recommend that hospitals must formulate policies to control or remove injuries, institutions must conduct some training or seminars considering explanation for the reasons of safety work. Most importantly, there should be strict and prompt reporting and recording of needlestick injuries in order for the nurses to conduct a risk assessment of the bloodborne pathogen. Proper management of sharps injuries depends on good reporting.