title: Percutaneous exposure incidents among Australian hospital staff.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hazard Assessment, National Institute of Industrial Health, 6-21-1 Nagao, Tama-ku, Kawasaki, Japan. smith@niih.go.jp
authors.forename: Derek R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Leggat
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takahashi
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D016602:Needlestick Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating / Q000453:epidemiology*