title: How we do it: blood contamination during management of epistaxis--awareness, utilization and availability of barrier protection.
abstract: There is a significant risk of blood contamination during the non-surgical management of epistaxis. Contamination beyond gloves happens in 55% of cases and the contamination risk to eyes as high as 18%. There is a lack of awareness and a majority of ENT doctors underestimate this risk. Protective barrier equipment and eye protection in particular are suboptimally available in all clinical areas where epistaxis is dealt with. Consequently, there is poor utilization of protective barrier equipment.
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Patiar
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Corbridge
mesh_terms: D001364:Awareness; D017848:Blood-Borne Pathogens; D003229:Conjunctival Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D004844:Epistaxis / Q000628:therapy*; D005135:Eye Protective Devices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D017758:Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010036:Otolaryngology; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission*