Awareness, Concerns, and Protection Strategies Against Bloodborne Viruses Among Surgeons

Abstract

Background: Surgeons are at high risk of contracting infectious viruses such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) through exposure to patients’ blood. The purpose of this study was to assess the surgeons’ awareness of contracting bloodborne viruses. Methods: A cross-sectional study with a questionnaire distributed to 241 surgeons at King Abdulaziz Medical City - Riyadh (KAMC-R) during the period June 2017 through January 2018. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data collected using Stata®, v14 (StataCorp LLC, College Station, Texas, USA). Categorical variables were analyzed using Pearson chi-square test. P-value of < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: A total of 241 surgeons answered the questionnaire, 179 (74.3%) surgeons were male and 62 (25.7%) were female. The mean age ± standard deviation (SD) of male surgeons was 35.8 ± 11.0 years while for females was 33.3 ± 9.1 years. The majority of our cohort were vaccinated for HBV (96% in males and 97% in females). Two-thirds of the study cohort did not know the conversion rate post-needlestick injury by HIV, HBV, and HCV. Two-thirds of the study cohort think there is a need for HIV screening before surgery. Mixed answers were received from the cohort when asked about their concern regarding contracting HIV infection from their patients; only one-third of the surgeons were extremely concerned. When asked about the risk of needlestick injury during treating patients positive for HBV, the majority of the surgeons said no. However, a significant difference between the female and male surgeons was found in which 12 of the 62 female surgeons answered yes (19.4%) compared to 11 of the 179 male surgeons (6.1%) (p = 0.002). Conclusion: The majority of our surgeons are vaccinated for HBV. However, female surgeons appear to be at higher risk of needlestick injury from HBV patients. This requires further investigation into the reasons for such high incidents. More education is needed about bloodborne viruses.

Needlestick and sharps’ injury in healthcare students: Prevalence, knowledge, attitude and practice

“…In contrast, few studies have reported female HCPs to be at a higher risk of NSI, and the presumed reason is underreporting of NSI by the male staff. [ 15 16 ] Hypodermic (i.e., intramuscular, subcutaneous, or intradermal) injections using disposable syringes and needles are identified as a common cause of NSIs,[ 17 18 ] which was also reflected in our findings. A majority of the NSI (48.1%) occurred during the procedure; similarly, Matsumoto et al .…”

“…[ 13 ] Although HBV has the highest risk of transmission amongst all the BBVs, it has an effective vaccine and PEP. [ 10 15 ] In the present study, only 32% of students correctly identified HBV as a virus with the highest risk of transmission and 55.6% were vaccinated against it [ Table 1 ]. The authorities of the health institutes should ensure the protection of students by organizing an HBV vaccination drive and making it compulsory.…”

Knowledge and Awareness Regarding Protocol After Needle Stick Injury among Medical Students

“…In the previous study, the results showed that 80% of the HIV disease can be reduced by using Antiretroviral Medications (Wilburn and Eijkemans, 2004). The study showed that the majority of the respondents have been vaccinated against the dis- ease caused by NSI (Hakeem et al, 2019), which is similar to our study. Majority of the NSIsare occurred by Dental professionals where they are at high risk Callan et al (2006).…”

Robotic “Zero Contact” surgery for occupational protection against infectious disease

“…However, this would make surgical team members vulnerable to COVID-19 infection as surgical patients might be COVID-19 patients, suspected cases or close contacts. In fact, surgical team members are constantly exposed to infectious diseases ( 3 ), including HIV, hepatitis B, tuberculosis, etc., when they are performing surgeries for patients with infectious diseases, which might seriously affect the occupational health and safety of surgical team members.…”