Occupational injury history and universal precautions awareness: a survey in Kabul hospital staff

BMC Infectious Diseases

Research Article

Paul Garner¹  Ahmad Shah Salehi² 

[1] International Health Group, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK;Ministry of Public Health, Kabul, Afghanistan;

关键词: Human Immunodeficiency Virus;    Health Care Worker;    Inject Drug User;    Health Staff;    Universal Precaution;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2334-10-19

 received in 2009-06-07, accepted in 2010-01-30,  发布年份 2010

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundHealth staff in Afghanistan may be at high risk of needle stick injury and occupational infection with blood borne pathogens, but we have not found any published or unpublished data.MethodsOur aim was to measure the percentage of healthcare staff reporting sharps injuries in the preceding 12 months, and to explore what they knew about universal precautions. In five randomly selected government hospitals in Kabul a total of 950 staff participated in the study. Data were analyzed with Epi Info 3.ResultsSeventy three percent of staff (72.6%, 491/676) reported sharps injury in the preceding 12 months, with remarkably similar levels between hospitals and staff cadres in the 676 (71.1%) people responding. Most at risk were gynaecologist/obstetricians (96.1%) followed by surgeons (91.1%), nurses (80.2%), dentists (75.4%), midwives (62.0%), technicians (50.0%), and internist/paediatricians (47.5%). Of the injuries reported, the commonest were from hollow-bore needles (46.3%, n = 361/780), usually during recapping. Almost a quarter (27.9%) of respondents had not been vaccinated against hepatitis B. Basic knowledge about universal precautions were found insufficient across all hospitals and cadres.ConclusionOccupational health policies for universal precautions need to be implemented in Afghani hospitals. Staff vaccination against hepatitis B is recommended.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Salehi and Garner; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010