A 5-year surveillance of occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens in a university teaching hospital in Monterrey, Mexico

BackgroundOccupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens (OEBPs) is a serious health and safety concern for health care providers. Lack of experience of medical personal in training could make them more susceptible for acquiring infections by these infectious agents.MethodsWe conducted a 5-year retrospective review of all reported occupational exposures. Characteristics, risk factors, and management of the accidents were obtained from OEBP database.ResultsA total of 951 events were analyzed, and 94.3% occurred in medical personnel in training; of those, 87.4% were percutaneous injuries. The emergency room was the hospital ward with more events recorded (34.1%), followed by the internal medicine and surgical wards. A hollow needle was used in 59.1% of the events, a suture needle in 10.7%, and a lancet in 8.8%. Most of events were recorded in the morning shift (38.3%). The months with fewer reports of events were January, July, and December, and the months with the highest reports were the combined months of October 2006 through 2011.ConclusionA high incidence of OEBP in medical personnel in training was detected; this high frequency correlates with the dynamics of the student population during the year and the hands on practice that the nursing and medical students receive.