Underreporting of occupational accidents involving biological material in surgical nursing
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5216/ree.v15i2.18554Keywords:
Exposure to Biological Agents, Nursing, Team, Occupational Accidents RegistryAbstract
doi: 10.5216/ree.v15i2.18554 - http://dx.doi.org/10.5216/ree.v15i2.18554.
ABSTRACT
Despite the awareness regarding the risk of infectious diseases being transmitted to health professionals exposed to biological material, it is estimated that a large part of the accidents are under-reported. The objectives of this study were to identify the rate and reasons for under-reporting occupational accidents in the surgical nursing professionals of a university hospital. Therefore, all nursing professionals of the surgical department that agreed to participate of this study were interviewed one by one. Of a total of 161 participants, 90 reported having experienced a total of 261 exposures to biological material, 147 of which hade been under-reported; that is, a underreporting rate of 55.1%. The main alleged reasons were: source-patient was HIV-negative and the accident was considered to be low-risk. The implementation of strategies to increase safety depends on the risk situations, and the identification of individual and institutional risk factors.
Descriptors: Exposure to Biological Agents; Nursing, Team; Occupational Accidents Registry.