Percutaneous Exposure Incidents Among Australian Hospital Staff |
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| Authors: | Derek R Smith Peter A Leggat Ken Takahashi |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Hazard Assessment, National Institute of Industrial Health, Kawasaki, Japan;2. School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australiasmith@niih.go.jp;4. School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia;5. Department of Environmental Epidemiology, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Kitakyushu, Japan |
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| Abstract: | We investigated all reported percutaneous exposure incidents (PEI) among staff from a large Australian hospital in the 3-year period, 2001-2003. There were a total of 373 PEI, of which 38.9% were needlestick injuries, 32.7% were cutaneous exposures and 28.4% sharps-related injuries. Nurses were the most commonly affected staff members, accounting for 63.5% of the total, followed by doctors (18.8%) and other staff ( 17.7%). Needlestick injuries were responsible for the majority of nurses’ PEI (44.7%). Sharps injuries constituted the major category for doctors (44.3%). Most needlestick injuries (67.6%) were caused by hollow-bore needles, while the majority of cutaneous exposures involved blood or serum (55.8%). Most sharps injures were caused by unknown devices (35.9%) or suture needles (34.9%). Overall, our investigation suggests that PEI is a considerable burden for health care workers in Australia. Further research is now required to determine the relationships, if any, between workers who suffer PEI and those who do not. |
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| Keywords: | Percutaneous Exposure Incident needlestick sharps health care worker Australia hospital universal precautions nurse doctor Hepatitis B |
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