title: Minding the Prevention Protocol for Blood-Borne Diseases via EM Residents.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The emergency department (ED) is one of the high-risk places for blood-borne disease (BBD) transmission.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to assess the rate of adherence to preventive measures (PM) against the blood-borne diseases via emergency medicine (EM) residents.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 80 emergency residents of an educational public hospital were observed with regard to abiding by the preventive measures from March to May 2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cleaning blood tainted skin before phlebotomy or IV line preparation and hand washing before donning latex gloves achieved the maximum (88/150) and minimum (0/150) scores. The most observed barriers of PM were frequent attendance of patients (85%), work load (80%), and need to work rapidly (68%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It seems that, the preventive instructions are not optimally respected by ERs possibly due to the crowded wards, high work load and the need to work rapidly.
authors.affiliation: Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Soad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mahfoozpour
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Shohadaye Tajrish Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baratloo
authors.affiliation: Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran ; Imam Hosein Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Hamidreza
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hatamabadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Vali Asr Hospital, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Kiandokht
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Karimian
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Shohadaye Tajrish Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Saeed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Safari
keywords: Epidemiology; Prevention and Control; Preventive Health Services