Behaviors and Attitudes of Polish Health Care Workers with Respect to the Hazards from Blood-Borne Pathogens: A Questionnaire-Based Study

Abstract

Blood-borne infections represent an important occupational health issue in health care settings. The aim of this study was to analyze behaviors of health care workers (HCWs) in the field of needlestick injuries (NSIs) as well as to learn about their attitudes to patients infected with blood-borne viruses. A total of 487 HCWs based at 26 hospitals in Poland completed an anonymous self-administered questionnaire in the period of October–December 2015. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression. Of the HCWs, 44.8% suffered superficial wounds, and 17.9% HCWs were cut deeply at least once. The most frequent causes of injuries were: rush (31.4%), unpredictable patient behavior (29%), and lack of attention (27%). The rate of underreporting NSIs was 45.2%. Males showed more than three times higher chance of not reporting injuries (odds ratio (OR) 3.495, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.65–7.49). The nurses more often took off their protective gloves to make the procedure easier (p = 0.036). Taking off protective clothes was positively associated with long work experience (OR 1.16, 95% CI: 0.995–1.36). Recapping concerned 15.5% of doctors, 8.2% of nurses, and 11.2% of paramedics. 25.9% HCWs feared infection in the workplace, and every tenth HCW refused to help the infected patient. The longer the work experience, the greater the concern about the possibility of infection (OR 1.33, 95% CI: 0.99–1.78). Most HCWs were more cautious when dealing with an infected patient and in their opinion infected patients should be required to inform HCWs of their serological status and such information should be compulsorily transferred between different health institutions. The emphasis in the training of HCWs in the future should be on classes perfecting practical skills like paying more attention to reporting NSIs, improving occupational behaviors like avoiding needle recapping, and on the development of appropriate attitudes towards patients infected with HIV, HBV, or HCV.

Occupational exposure to HIV among healthcare workers in PMTCT sites in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

“…These findings are consistent and similar to the Bosnia/Herzegovinian, Cameroonian, Saudi Arabian studies on risk of occupational exposure conducted [9][12] [13]. On the contrary, higher prevalence of occupational exposure to HIV infection among health care workers than the prevalence found in the current study has been reported by several other researchers in sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world [14].But, our findings on prevalence of occupational exposure are above that obtained from similar studies conducted in Poland [8] ,Kuwait [15] , South Korea [16] and Northern Nigeria [17].This difference in prevalence of HIV observed in previous studies and our present study could be as a result of the difference in the study setting, study design and other methodological techniques. The differential in the level of training received by the health care workers in different study settings could also contribute to the variation.…”

“…This study focuses on how health care workers are at higher risk of occupational infection compared to other healthcare workers in non-HIV specialised facilities [8]. It also focuses on specialized HIV care centres such as Prevention of Maternal to Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) sites in public and private settings [9].…”

Occupational exposure to HIV among healthcare workers in PMTCT sites in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

“…This study focuses on how health care workers are at higher risk of occupational infection compared to other healthcare workers in non-HIV specialised facilities [10]. It also focuses on specialized HIV care centres such as Prevention of Maternal to Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) sites in public and private settings [11].…”

Occupational exposure to HIV among healthcare workers in PMTCT sites in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

“…[ Figure 2 is here] 8 The main predictors of occupational exposure to HIV were career cadre. Doctors were more likely to have occupational exposure to HIV than another worker (AOR=2.2, 95% C.I=1.2-4.3, p<0.05).…”

“…This study focuses on health care workers at higher risk of occupational infection compared to other healthcare workers in non-HIV specialised facility [8] . It also focuses on specialized HIV care centre such as Prevention of Maternal to Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) sites in public and private setting [9].…”