Occupational Exposures to Blood and Body Fluids among Healthcare Workers
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2009-09-21
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Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University
Abstract
Abstract: The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine the incidence and characteristies of occupational exposure to blood and body fluid and infectious consequence among healthcare workers (HCWs) and to predict the type of HCWs at risk of occupational hazard in Ramathibodi Hospital from January 1, 2004 through December 31, 2006. Throughout the 3-year surveillance, there were 448blood and body fluid exposures. Of these 448 accurrences 331 (73.9%) were women. The average age was 27.64 years. Most of them (79.0%) were between the ages of 19-30 years. The majority of them were nursing staff (29.5%) and medical students (22.5%). Medical wards were the most common places where HCWs exposed to blood and body fluid by accident. Concerning working experience, 66.7% had less than 5-year experiences. The blood and body fluidincidence rate per 100 HCWs was 8.2 for medical students, 5.4 for residents and 1.7 for nursing students. Medical students had the highest risk to have an accident, considering the nursing students as the reference group. Regarding the activities undertaken at the time of injury, 231 accidents (51.6%) happened in the process of using sharp devices, and 42.4% were needle stick. Sources of infection were patients who had positive results for anti-HIV (15%) and HBsAg (4.2%). However, a 3-year sureillance found that none of the HCWs had positive results of these diseases. Education of occupational infection with bloodborne pathogens should be a priority of the hospital program for infection control. Training of HCWs on safe handling and disposal of needles and sharps devices and hepatitis B vaccination of all HCWs are required to reduce transmission.
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Ramathibodi Nursing Journal; Vol. 14 No. 3, September - December 2008