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Background: Hospital Safety and Health Management System (HSH-MS) and Hospital Safety Climate (HSC) are the significant elements to develop safe work practices. The current study aimed to examine the dimensions of HSH-MS and HSC and the association with the prevalence of Needlestick and Sharp Injury (NSI) and NSI recidivism. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1070 nurses in Iranian hospitals (89% response rate). Results: More than 54% (n = 579) had sustained at least 1 NSI in the previous year. The NSI recidivism rate was 8.6% and recidivists were more likely to be younger, female, married, with higher Body Mass Index (BMI), and on night shift. Two aspects of HSH-MS including management leadership and employee participation were associated with the incidence of NSIs Odds Ratio (OR): 1.91 and 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.69-1.21; OR: 1.29 and 95% CI: 0.92-1.82) and NSI recidivism rate (OR: 1.98 and 95% CI: 0.55-1.74; OR: 1.12 and 95% CI: 0.83-1.49). Furthermore, three dimensions of HSC comprising management support (OR: 1.02 and 95% CI: 0.93-1.11 for NSIs; OR: 1.21 and 95% CI: 0.77-1.22 for NSI recidivism), absence of job hindrances (OR: 1.06 and 95% CI: 0.98-1.16 for NSIs; OR: 1.11 and 95% CI: 0.96-1.30 for NSI recidivism) and cleanliness/orderliness (OR: 1.07 and 95% CI: 0.98-1.08 for NSIs; OR: 0.84 and 95% CI: 0.87-0.97 for NSI recidivism) were correlated with reduced NSIs risk. Conclusions: This study suggests that HSH-MSs and employees' safety climate are significant factors, which are correlated with not only the prevalence of recurrent NSIs but also the single NSI in hospitals.

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BACKGROUND: Hand hygiene (HH) compliance is an effective behavior in controlling hospital-acquired infection because the hand is the main means of transmitting infections in patient-medical staff communication as well as the inanimate environment. This study aimed to explore the effect of applying Pender's Health Promotion Model on the HH compliance of intensive care unit staff. METHODS: This quasi-experimental study with a single research group was conducted from January to July in 2019. The required data were collected from 90 staff of the intensive care units of Imam Reza Hospital in Mashhad, Iran through 1796 and 2343 opportunity of monitoring before and after the intervention. The data collection instruments were a standard HH observation form and a researcher-made HH questionnaire in the light of Pender's health promotion model. The data were statistically analyzed in SPSS using Paired-samples T-test and Chi-squared test. RESULTS: The mean age of the 90 included participants was 35.92 (± 6.5) years and the mean length of their work experience was 10 (±1.5). The hand hygiene index rose from 23% before the intervention to 41.4% after the intervention (p=0.001). Moreover, statistically significant differences were found in moments after touching surroundings (p=0.001), before and after touching a patient (p=0.001), and also in perceived barriers (p=0.015), interpersonal influences (p=0.008) and situational influences (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Pender's model showed to have improved the staff's HH compliance as a professional behavior.

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The profile of febrile encephalopathy varies based on different demographic and geographical characteristics of the study population. This retrospective, cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the etiological spectrum of febrile encephalopathy in hospitalized adult patients. A total of 293 patients with the mean age of 49.7 ± 23 were evaluated of whom 77.1% presented with encephalopathy syndrome. The most common diagnosis in patients with clinical syndromes suggestive of central nervous system (CNS) infection was sepsis associated encephalopathy (SAE) (22.9%), followed by bacterial meningitis (14%) and neurotuberculosis (9.9%). The comparison between the elderly and young adults showed that, in the young adults, bacterial meningitis and neurotuberculosis, and in the elderly SAE, are among the most common causes of clinical syndromes suggestive of CNS infection including febrile encephalopathy in our region. Moreover, we illustrated an upward trend for the proportion of diagnosing CNS infections among those who underwent diagnostic LP, from 40.4% in 2011 to 70% in 2015, that could be indicative of an increasing threshold for performing LP at least in our center in recent years. Whether these changes have been associated with increasing the rate of diagnostic errors or not needs to be evaluated in future studies.

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Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever is a tick-borne viral zoonosis with the potential of human-to-human transmission with case fatality rates from 3% to 50%. The incubation period depends on host, route of infection, and viral dose. Herein, we report a nosocomial spread of the disease in a hospital at Mashhad, northeastern Iran, with a very short incubation period for one of the secondary cases. The patient was a medical student who had a negligible contact with a Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever patient during his admission to the hospital. The time interval between the contact and the onset of symptoms was merely 20 hours. Unfortunately, he died within 1 week of exposure.

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Occupational exposure to sharp items or body fluid splash is a hazard for health care personnel via transmission of blood-borne viruses through such exposures. To determine the occurrence of needlestick injuries and other high-risk exposures among health care workers at a hospital in Iran, data collected for 2 years were reviewed. During this period, 171 occupational exposures were self-reported. Approximately 20% of all exposed personnel were men and 80% were women. One hundred twenty-six (74%) of the exposed personnel had needlestick injuries, 13 (8%) had sharp instrument injuries, and 32 (19%) had mucosal contact with potentially infectious fluids. Thirty-two percent of injuries occurred during or after sharp instrument disposal and 67% during operative procedures. Appropriate blood tests were performed for 55 (32%) and postexposure prophylaxis was administered to 31 (18%) of the exposed personnel.

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BACKGROUND: Hand hygiene is the single most important element of strategies to prevent health care-associated infections. However, handwashing rates among health care workers have ranged from 9% to 50%. This observation took place as a structured, overt strategy to assess the hospital staff's hand hygiene compliance. The study was carried out in Imam Reza General Hospital, Mashhad, Iran. METHODS: All hospital staff, including physicians, nurses, and unlicensed assistive personnel in 4 randomly selected wards, were observed by 2 infection control nurse specialists for 5 observation periods on each ward. The observation was overt, and observers compiled data by filling out 2 checklists. All staff knew that they were being observed, and the observers made no interventions. RESULTS: The overall compliance with hand hygiene activities was 47.9% (438 episodes out of 913 potential opportunities) and, with sole emphasis on handwashing, was only 8.5%. CONCLUSION: Inappropriate glove use might be a component of poor hand hygiene compliance. Training campaigns should be implanted for health care personnel and all hospital staff to re-emphasize the importance of adherence to hand hygiene protocols.

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