Occupational infections: a risk for the anesthesiologists

The environment of operating room is familiar workplace for anesthesiologists, as well as, an area replete with various kinds of occupational hazards, such as, stress, 1, 2 exposure to inhalational anesthetics 3, 4 noise pollution5'6 and sleep deprivation7'8.In addition to these hazards there is a serious threat of occupational infections 9, 10 among anesthesiologists. Here is the review of this threat and how to identify and minimize risk, while providing optimal patient care. Though, the work environment of anesthesiologists may be hostile to some extent, they should work more safely by identifying, understanding and hence avoiding these hazards