Risk factors affecting occupational exposure to blood and body fluids among dental students: a cross-sectional study in a Brazilian Federal University

Introduction: Dental students are often exposed to bloodborne pathogens during dental training. Several factors are involved in increased risk of human deficiency, hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus (HIV, HBV, and HCV) infection. However, there are few studies that address the risks and forms of prevention among dental students in Brazil. Methods: A cross-sectional study of occupational exposure to blood or body fluids among dental students of Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, was performed. These students were referred to the Occupational Medicine Department of Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre from January 2007 to April 2015. Analyzed data included type of exposure (needlestick injury, mucosal exposure, and exposure to non-intact skin); source patient status for HBV, HIV and HCV infection, accident during dental training, procedure performed, biological material involved, type of accident, and hepatitis B vaccination and serological protection status. The objective was to know the incidence rate and others characteristics of accidents in order to prevent them. Results: There were 312 accidents during the study period of 8 years and 4 months. Incidence rate was 87,42 exposures per 1000 students year. Source patient was known in 297 of the cases (95.2%), of which 3 were HBsAg reagent, 12 were HIV reagent, and 17 were HCV reagent. The majority of accidents occurred during procedure, but nearly as high as 40% occurred after procedure, of which 63% occurred during instrument cleaning, disinfecting or sterilizing. Most involved sharp instruments were anesthetic syringe needle and curette. Only 48% of dental students knew their antiHBs was > 10 mIU/mL. Conclusions: Dental students should be tested for hepatitis B immune status at the beginning of training, and vaccination should be available to all dental students before they start clinical practice. Work practice controls on sharp devices should be addressed at the beginning and strengthened during dental training. Dental training institutions should review instrumental cleaning process to minimize handling of loose contaminated instruments (AU)

Human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus seroprevalence in critically ill emergency department patients at a Trauma Care Centre, India.

Introduction: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) are the most common occupationally acquired infections amongst the healthcare workers (HCWs) with critically ill patients attending the emergency department being the most common source of occupationally acquired infections. Therefore, the present study was conducted at a 165 bedded level-1 trauma centre of India to ascertain the seroprevalence rate of HIV, HBV and HCV; and thus the risk associated with the occupational exposure in a busy emergency setting of the developing world. Methodology: A retrospective, 7 years study (2007-2013) was carried out at the JPNA Trauma Centre of the 2,500 bedded All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. Records of all patients whose serum samples were sent to the laboratory for viral markers testing were obtained and those falling in the red area were included. Results: A total of 11,630 patients were received in the red area; and samples from 7,650 patients were sent for testing. Seropositivity of HIV, HBV and HCV in these samples was 0.28%, 3.4% and 0.9% respectively. The number of samples received was lesser than the total number of patients received in the red area. Conclusion: Adopting Standard Precautions (SP) can be used as an easy method to decrease the risk of occupationally acquired infections.

Modelo explicativo da adesão às precauções-padrão: construção e aplicação / Construction and application of a model for explaining compliance with standard precautions

A exposição ocupacional a material biológico é uma das questões mais proeminentes na área da Saúde e Segurança Ocupacional, pois coloca o profissional de saúde em risco de adquirir infecções transmitidas por via sanguínea. Há mais de uma década, esforços têm sido dirigidos para incentivar as medidas preventivas, denominadas, inicialmente, precauções universais (PU) e, posteriormente, precauções-padrão (PP). Entretanto, universalmente estudos têm demonstrado níveis insatisfatórios de adesão às recomendações das PP. A revisão da literatura aponta para a análise dos fatores que interferem na tomada de decisão dos profissionais de saúde baseada em três dimensões: indivíduo, trabalho e organização. Fundamentados nessa premissa, desenvolvemos um modelo teórico explicativo da adesão às precauções-padrão para identificar a influência dos fatores individuais, relativos ao trabalho e organizacionais. A aplicação desse modelo em 270 profissionais médicos e de enfermagem de um hospital universitário revelou importantes diferenças entre os dois grupos profissionais: (1) os profissionais de enfermagem relataram níveis significativamente maiores de adesão às recomendações para "seguir as PP com todos os pacientes", "lavar as mãos após retirar luvas", "usar avental protetor", e ao conjunto de itens relacionados à manipulação e descarte de objetos perfurocortantes; (2) os profissionais de enfermagem relataram perceber mais intensamente os aspectos organizacionais de apoio a adoção das precauções-padrão; (3) os fatores individuais, relativos ao trabalho e organizacionais explicaram 38,5% do índice global de adesão; (4) o índice global de adesão foi explicado por pertencer ao grupo profissional de médicos; ter recebido treinamento em PP; perceber menos intensamente os obstáculos para seguir as PP; perceber mais intensamente a carga de trabalho, o feedback das práticas de segurança, e as ações gerenciais de apoio à segurança. ) Os resultados obtidos possibilitaram a discussão de um programa para o gerenciamento dos riscos ocupacionais relacionados à exposição a material biológico cujas diretrizes foram assim definidas: (1) educação para consciência; (2) controle de engenharia; (3) controle das práticas de trabalho.

The bloodborne pathogens exposure is a salient issue for Occupational Health and Safety so that it places health care workers on bloodborne infections risks. For almost two decades, efforts have been drived to encourage safety practices named, first, universal precautions, and after, standard precautions. However, studies have showed poor levels of compliance with these recommendations. The literature points out the factors that interfere in the health care workers decision-making which are centred on tree dimensions: individual, job/task, and organization. Based on this premise, we developed a theorethical model for explaining compliance with standard precautions and to identify the influence of individual, job-related, and organization factors. The application of this model on 270 heath care workers at a university hospital shows that: (1) nursing staff reported higher levels of compliance with some recommendations than physicians did; (2) nursing staff perceived strongly the organization support for adherence with PP than physincians did; (3) the individual, job-related and organization factors predicted 38,5% of general compliance level differences among individuals. The empirical investigation also shows that general compliance levels are explained by the following variables: being physician; having receveid PP training at university hospital; perceiveing less likely job hidrances for using PP, and perceiveing strongly workload, feedback of safety practices, management actions and commitment with safety. The conclusions of this research aid to organize a program to management bloodborne occupacional exposure whose directives was defined as: raising awareness through education; engineering control; and work practices control.