Introduction: The main route of acquiring infectious blood and body fluids in hospital conditions is accidental exposure to stinging incidents.
Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the epidemiological characteristics of accidental exposures to blood-borne pathogens among different professional groups of health care workers (HCWs).
Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using the "Questionnaire on the HCWs exposure to blood and blood transmitted infections" at the University Clinical Centre Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, from the 1st of March to the 31st of December 2014. Study sample consisted of 1031 participants (65% of total employees) stratified into three occupational groups: doctors, nurses and support staff.
Results and discussion: Exposure incident was recorded in 1231 participants (54.8%) at least once in the last 12 months. An average number of exposure incidents per HCWs in total years of service was 7.07± 8.041. Out of total sample, 70% reported at least one type of exposure incident. Nurses had a higher frequency of multiple contacts compared to doctors and support staff (χ2=37.73; df=4; p<0.001). The frequency of reported incidents among nurses at the surgical departments was almost two times higher (1.7). 75.5% (778/1031) of the participants, reported not having been exposed to these incident. Doctors were significantly less likely to report exposure incidents than nurses and support staff. There were significant differences in reporting rate (χ2=32,66; df=4; p<0.001).
Conclusion: HCWs in hospitals have a high prevalence of occupational exposure to blood-borne infections. Seventy percent of the HCWs is periodically or constantly exposed to or contact related to blood. Nurses are most frequently exposed occupational group among HCWs, while the lowest reporting rate on an exposure incident is among doctors.
Keywords: accidental exposures; health care workers; infections.