Nurses and Occupational Exposures to Bloodborne Viruses in Poland

Gańczak, Maria; Milona, Marta; Szych, Zbigniew

doi:10.1086/500333

Cited by 25 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…2,3,12 Furthermore, administrative controls are necessary to facilitate surveillance of sharps injuries and of immunization coverage, and to encourage complete reporting of injuries and universal coverage by HBV immunization. [2][3][4]12 Our findings, and those of other studies, [2][3][4]12 confirm that sharps injuries among nurses are caused mainly by hollowbore needles. Policies to reduce the number and consequences of needlestick injuries for nurses should focus on passive protection in the pre-event phase by introducing safety devices for needles and on event-phase protection by encouraging glove use.…”

Section: Equipment-related Risk Factorssupporting

confidence: 86%

“…P p .049 discussion Use of a structured questionnaire developed on the basis of common activities, exposures, and injuries involving sharps by major job category, together with the typical Haddon matrix, facilitated rapid identification of hazardous exposures and opportunities for prevention, examples of which are shown in the Table. Although nearly all HCWs in UAE emergency departments were from other countries and had differing backgrounds, we found strong compliance with safe work practices for use of sharps and a low frequency of injury, compared with other reports. [2][3][4]12,13 There are several possible causal factors that might explain our positive findings. It could be that training programs and safety equipment are better funded in the UAE than in some other countries; however, we are not aware of such differences and we did not find that hospitals were equipped with the full range of sharps safety devices that provide automatic or so-called passive protection, such as retractable needles.…”

Section: Equipment-related Risk Factorsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…2,3 For the 40%-80% of injuries that go unreported, the opportunity for postexposure prophylaxis is lost. [2][3][4] Sharps injuries result from exposures to specific hazards and affect certain high-risk groups more than others. Emergency department personnel are at high risk for occupational infections due to exposure to sharps and blood.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Use of the Haddon Matrix as a Tool for Assessing Risk Factors for Sharps Injury in Emergency Departments in the United Arab Emirates

Gańczak

Barss

Al-Marashda

et al. 2007

Infect. Control Hosp. Epidemiol.

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We investigated the epidemiology and prevention of sharps injuries in the United Arab Emirates. Among 82 emergency nurses and 38 doctors who responded to our questionnaire, risk factors for sharp device injuries identified using the Haddon matrix included personal factors (for the pre-event phase, a lack of infection control training, a lack of immunization, and recapping needles, and for the postevent phase, underreporting of sharps injuries) and equipment-related factors (for the pre-event phase, failure to use safe devices; for the event phase, failure to use gloves in all appropriate situations). Nearly all injuries to doctors were caused by suture needles, and among nurses more than 50% of injuries were caused by hollow-bore needles.

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Section: Equipment-related Risk Factorssupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Equipment-related Risk Factorsmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Use of the Haddon Matrix as a Tool for Assessing Risk Factors for Sharps Injury in Emergency Departments in the United Arab Emirates

Gańczak

Barss

Al-Marashda

et al. 2007

Infect. Control Hosp. Epidemiol.

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“…However, in the case of HCV and HIV viruses for which vaccines are not available, the decisive role in the prophylaxis of healthcare professionals is played by preventative procedures implementing safety equipment where possible. In case of exposures, reporting that fact to occupational medicine service promptly allows the implementation of effective post-exposure prophylaxis against HIV or monitoring and rapid implementation of effective treatment in case of infection with HCV [18]. The discrepancy between the results of survey research and the data from official records of exposure cases indicates the necessity of permanent and more effective education of healthcare professionals in the field of occupational risks associated with exposure to pathogens transmitted by blood, methods for its prevention, but also the purpose and benefits related to reporting these kinds of adverse events.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Healthcare workers’ occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens: A 5-year observation in selected hospitals of the Małopolska province

Różańska

Szczypta

Baran

et al. 2014

IJOMEH

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Objectives: The study presents data concerning occupational exposures among the staff of 5 hospitals in the Małopolska province in [2008][2009][2010][2011][2012], taking into account the frequency and circumstances of exposure formation, occupational groups of hospital workers, as well as diversification of the reported rates in subsequent years between the hospitals and in each of them. An additional objective of the analysis was to assess the practical usefulness of the reported data for planning and evaluation of the effectiveness of procedures serving to minimize the risk of healthcare workers' exposure to pathogens transmitted through blood. Material and Methods: Data were derived from occupational exposure registries kept by 5 hospitals of varying sizes and operational profiles from the Małopolska province from the years 2008-2012. Results: Seven hundred and seventy-five cases of exposure were found in a group of 3165 potentially exposed workers in the analyzed period. Most cases were observed in nurses (68%) and these were mainly various types of needlestick injuries (78%). Exposure rates with respect to all workers ranged from 2.6% to 8.3% in individual hospitals, but the differences in their values registered in the hospitals in subsequent years did not bear any statistical significance, in a way similar to the rates calculated separately for each occupational group. Conclusions: There was no upward or downward trend in the number of reported cases of exposure to bloodborne pathogens in the studied period in any of the hospitals. Statistically significant differences in the percentages of exposures were reported between individual hospitals in some years of the analyzed period, which confirms the need for registries in individual units in order to plan and evaluate the effectiveness of preventative measures.

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“…Affecting around 6 million employees in the healthcare sector, this corresponds to nearly 4 million injuries of this type each year [6]. Note, however, that these figures are merely estimates, and the problem is that the workers themselves fail to report the injuries, which is confirmed by both the Polish and the study of other countries [7][8][9][10]. A huge proportion of the events is not reported, and if the employer is not aware of those events, he/she sees no need to invest in safe equipment.…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

Did legal regulations change the reporting frequency of sharp injuries of medical personnel? Study from 36 hospitals in Łódź province, Poland

Garus-Pakowska¹,

Górajski²,

Szatko³

2017

Int J Occup Med Environ Health

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Objectives: The aim of the study has been to analyze the epidemiological data on sharp injuries among health care workers before and after the implementation of regulations related to the conduct of the register of sharp injuries. Material and Methods: We hypothesized that the introduction of legislation would change the existing low reportability of sharp injuries and reporting incidents would increase. In Poland the binding regulations, dating back to 2013, require the employer to keep a record of sharp injuries. Therefore, we compared the data from before and after the entry regulations. Data was collected from the records of occupational exposure/accidents at work in hospitals in the Łódź Province during 2010-2014. The feedback came from 36 hospitals (return index = 51.5%), representing a total annual average of 13 211 medical workers. Results: The incidence of injuries did not change significantly over the period 2010-2014, and the number of reported injuries in 2014 (the year when the Regulation had already been effective) was even lower than in the previous years. The average annual injury index was 12.31 injuries per 1000 employees (95% confidence interval: 11.48-13.16/1000). The incidence of injuries among nurses was significantly higher than in other groups of medical professionals (p < 0.05). These injuries most often occur while using needles (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The obligation to record occupational exposures set forth in current regulations is not likely to improve the reliability of reporting the incidents actually taking place. Further research should focus on identifying barriers to reporting cases of exposure to potentially infectious material. Action should be taken to raise awareness of medical personnel about the possible effects of exposure to infectious material, in particular, the benefits of the implementation of early post-exposure procedures. Perhaps it will increase the reporting frequency of sharp injuries of medical personnel. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2018;31(1):37-46

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Nurses and Occupational Exposures to Bloodborne Viruses in Poland

Cited by 25 publications

References 30 publications

Use of the Haddon Matrix as a Tool for Assessing Risk Factors for Sharps Injury in Emergency Departments in the United Arab Emirates

Use of the Haddon Matrix as a Tool for Assessing Risk Factors for Sharps Injury in Emergency Departments in the United Arab Emirates

Healthcare workers’ occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens: A 5-year observation in selected hospitals of the Małopolska province

Did legal regulations change the reporting frequency of sharp injuries of medical personnel? Study from 36 hospitals in Łódź province, Poland

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