Sharps injuries among medical students.
BACKGROUND
Medical students may be at risk of sharps injuries for several reasons. These exposures can transmit a range of blood-borne pathogens including hepatitis B, hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate medical students' knowledge regarding the prevention and management of sharps injuries and their experience of such exposures in the calendar year 2007.


METHODS
A cross-sectional, web-based, survey of fourth and fifth year medical students enrolled at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. All students were at the mid-point of their year of study. An invitation e-mail and two electronic reminders were sent, on specified days, to the study population. These contained a summary of the study and the link to the anonymous questionnaire.


RESULTS
Of the 395 medical students e-mailed, 238 (60%) responded. When compared with fourth year medical students, final year students had higher mean knowledge scores for sharps injury management (P < 0.01). Of total, 18% reported resheathing used needles and 31% reported disposing of sharps for others, indicating poor compliance with standard precautions. In the event of an injury, 29% stated that they would scrub the wound. Only 44% were familiar with policies for reporting exposures. In all, 11% of students had experienced at least one contaminated sharps injury in 2007 and, of those, 40% had reported the most recent incident.


CONCLUSIONS
Medical students are at risk of sharps injuries and their knowledge regarding the prevention and management of these exposures is limited: training on these issues should be increased.
Varsou
Ourania
O
Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK. o.varsou@googlemail.com
Lemon
John S
JS
Dick
Finlay D
FD
D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016602:Needlestick Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000517:prevention & control*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012308:Risk Management; D012606:Scotland; D013337:Students, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires