Assessment of safe injection practices in health facilities in Oman

Background: Unsafe injection practices put patients and providers at risk of infectious and noninfectious adverse events. A 2001 Ministry of Health survey on injection practices in Oman indicated that, while overall standards were good, in some areas there was a need for improvement. Aim: We aimed to evaluate injection safety practices to determine whether facilities meet the requirements for practices, equipment, supplies and waste disposal, and to identify unsafe practices. Methods: We conducted a national cross-sectional survey in 2007 using the World Health Organization tool to evaluate injection safety practices. Using 2-stage cluster sampling, 80 government and 61 private health facilities were randomly selected and evaluated. Results: There was no shortage of injection equipment nor evidence of attempts to sterilize disposable devices. Care providers immediately disposed of the used needle/syringe in sharps containers. Phlebotomy devices were taken from sealed packets in 96% of facilities. In private facilities, 66.3% of the care providers were fully immunized against hepatitis B. Wearing a new pair of gloves for phlebotomy was observed in only 46% of government and 38% of private health facilities. Many health facilities lacked alcohol-based handrub. Conclusions: Many injection safety aspects were satisfactory. However there are still opportunities for improvement. Actions are required to make alcohol-based handrub and appropriate sharps containers available and to provide hepatitis B vaccine and training to health care workers in all facilities. Conclusions: De nombreux aspects relatifs a la securite des injections etaient satisfaisants. Il est toutefois possible d’ameliorer encore davantage ce domaine. Des mesures sont requises afin de mettre a disposition des solutions hydroalcooliques et des boites adequates pour l’elimination des objets coupants et tranchants et de fournir le vaccin contre l’hepatite B ainsi qu’une formation aux agents de soins de sante dans tous les etablissements. الاستنتاجات: سجل مستوى مرضي في عديد من جوانب مأمونية الحقن. ولكن لا تزال ثمة فرص للتحسين. فيلزم اتخاذ إجراءات لإتاحة غسول اليد كحولي الأساس وحاويات ملائمة للتخلص من الأدوات الحادة وتوفير لقاحات ضد الالتهاب الكبدي باء، وتدريب العاملين في مجال الرعاية الصحية في جميع المرافق.