Healthcare workers' risk of contact with body fluids in a hospital: the effect of complying with the universal precautions policy.
OBJECTIVE
To test whether healthcare workers' knowledge of and compliance with the basic principle of the Universal Precautions policy (i.e., that all patients should be treated equally regarding contact with body fluids) influenced the rate of contact with patient blood.


METHODS
Survey based on anonymous questionnaires.


METHODS
A 380-bed secondary and tertiary care hospital receiving emergency and elective patients.


METHODS
All employees having any contact with patients. Nine hundred one of 1,308 (69%) of the questionnaires were returned.


RESULTS
Twelve percent of the respondents (95% confidence interval [CI95] = 10.0%-14.4%) had experienced any contact with patient blood in the week preceding their answer. Physicians had the highest rate of contact with blood followed by nurses. In the five groups--physicians, nurses, laboratory technicians and phlebotomists, nursing aides, and student nurses--contact with blood was less frequent in the subgroup that did know and comply with the basic principle of the Universal Precautions policy, compared with the subgroup that did not. When adding the results for the 5 groups, contact with blood was experienced by 91 of 571 (15.9%, CI95 = 13%-19%) of the personnel who did not know and comply with Universal Precautions. The personnel who did know and comply with Universal Precautions had a significantly lower (9 of 111 [8.1%], p < .05, CI95 = 3.8%-15%) rate of contact with blood.


CONCLUSIONS
The healthcare workers who knew and complied with Universal Precautions had a significant lower rate of contact with patient blood than those who did not.
Kristensen
M S
MS
Aarhus Amtssygehus, Tage Hansensgade, Denmark.
Wernberg
N M
NM
Anker-Møller
E
E
D001769:Blood / Q000382:microbiology; D001826:Body Fluids; D003718:Denmark; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006745:Hospital Bed Capacity, 300 to 499; D006801:Humans; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016635:Universal Precautions