Abstract
Sharps injury among health care workers in HUKM has received serious attention lately due to the possible transmission of diseases like HIV, Hepatits B and Hepatitis C, which can cause serious consequences for the victim. The aim of the study was to gain a deeper understanding of the emotional problems experienced by health care workers who had incurred a sharps injury and the coping strategies adopted by them to overcome the problem. A 28 item semi-structured questionnaire was designed by the supervisors and the researcher as there was no existing questionnaire to be adopted, as no research had been carried out in this area prior to this. The target group consisted of 64 health care workers of different categories working in HUKM. Data was collected over a period of five months from November 2000 to March 2001. The results of the study revealed that the most frequently injured were the staff nurses, nearly 90% of whom were emotionally upset and were worried that they might contract a disease. There was no significant difference in the emotional stress experienced by the different categories of the health care workers, all were equally upset about the injury but each category of staff adopted different methods to overcome the tragedy. Open comments and opinions about prevention and the management of the sharps injury in HUKM as given by the respondents here are taken into account. Several views given by the participants were explored and discussed. Finally, several implications for nursing and recommendations have been presented.
Keywords :
emotional problems,
experiences,
health care workers,
sharps injury,
Abstrak
Kecederaan tajam dikalangan pekerja kesihatan di HUKM telah mendapat perhatian yang serius di kebelakangan ini kemungkinan kerana wujudnya penyakit-penyakit seperti HIV, Hepatitis B dan Hepatitis C yang boleh membawa kesan buruk kepada yang tercedera. Matlamat kajian ini ialah untuk memperolehi kefahaman yang lebih mendalam terhadap masalah emosi yang dialami oleh pekerja-pekerja kesihatan yang telah dicedera oleh benda tajam dan strategi yang diguna untuk mengatasi masalah tersebut. Satu soal selidik separa struktur yang mengandungi 28 bahan telah direkabentuk oleh penyelia dan penyelidik kerana soal selidik tidak wujud untuk di guna pakai diatas sebab tiada kajian serupa dijalankan sebelum ini. Kumpulan sasaran terdiri daripada 64 pekerja kesihatan dalam pelbagai kategori yang bertugas di HUKM. Data telah dikutip dalam tempoh lima bulan dari November 2000 hingga Mac 2001. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa kumpulan yang paling banyak tercedera ialah jururawat terlatih, 90% daripada mereka merasa sedih dan risau diatas kemungkinan mendapat penyakit . Didapati tiada perbezaan signifikan dalam perasaan stres dan setiap kategori mengguna strategi berlainan untuk mengatasi tragedi ini. Komen dan pendapat terbuka yang disuarakan oleh responden mengenai pencegahan dan pengendalian kecederaan tajam di HUKM telah diberi perhatian. Beberapa pendapat daripada responden telah dikumpul dan dibincang. Akhirnya beberapa implikasi kejururawatan dan syur telah dikemukakan.
Kata Kunci :
kecederaan tajam,
masalah emosi,
pekerja kesihatan,
pengalaman,
Correspondance Address
Santhna Letchmi Panduragan, Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Yaacob Latiff, 56000 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.
Email: santhna@mail.hukm.ukm.my
