Home healthcare poses risks to nurses

NEW YORK, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Researchers say the fastest growing U.S. healthcare sector -- home care -- may pose greater risks for nurses.

The study, published in the American Journal of Infection Control, finds the risk of needlestick injuries in home healthcare nurses was 7.6 per 100 nurses.

A critical finding of the study was the statistical correlation between needlesticks and exposure to stressful conditions in a patients' household -- such as cigarette smoke, unsanitary conditions, air pollution and vermin. Nurses reporting these stressors were nearly twice as likely to report needlestick injuries. Nurses exposed to violence in their patients' households were nearly three and a half times more likely to also report needlestick injuries.

"Although professionally and personally rewarding for many, home care nursing can be both physically and emotionally demanding," study leader Robyn Gershon of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University says in a statement. "These types of injuries are serious as they can result in infection with bloodborne pathogens, such as hepatitis."

More than 700 home healthcare registered nurses from across New York state were recruited for the study.