Blood exposure incidence rates from the North Carolina study of home Care and hospice nurses

Abstract

Approximately 150 North Carolina home care/hospice nurses are exposed to blood annually. If these results are representative of other states, then approximately 12,000 home care/hospice nurses are exposed each year nationwide. Improved prevention efforts are needed to reduce blood exposure in home care/hospice nurses. Am. J. Ind. Med. 52:99-104, 2009. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Work Experience, Work Environment, and Blood Exposure among Home Care and Hospice Nurses

“…This is the first study to investigate factors related to the marked and consistent excess of blood exposure among nurses with less experience in home care/hospice compared to nurses with more experience in home care/ hospice 1,9) . The results suggest that experience providing care in the home care/hospice environment enables nurses to reduce their risk of blood exposure-the rate of blood exposure was three to seven times lower among nurses with more experience (Table 2).…”

“…In North Carolina, nurses who had worked in home care/hospice for five yrs or less had rates of blood exposure that were three times higher for total blood exposures and almost seven times higher for needlestick, compared to nurses who had worked in home care/hospice for over five yrs. Furthermore, blood exposure rates were not associated with age or total yrs of nursing experience 1) . In Massachusetts, the rate for blood exposure from sharps injuries was three times higher for nurses with five or less yrs of experience in home care 9) .…”

“…The questionnaire can be viewed at http://www.sra.com/nchhnquestionnaire/. Additional details of the study design as well as descriptive blood exposure incidence rates have been published previously 1) . This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Weber State University.…”

“…These nurses are at risk of infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) from needlestick, blood contact with eyes, nose, and mouth, and blood contact with non-intact skin 7,8) . The one-year risk of blood exposure in this population has been estimated at 5%-9% 1,9) .…”

“…Several recent studies have examined factors associated with blood exposure among home care and hospice nurses [1][2][3][4] . This issue is important because the population is large (over 130,000 nurses in the U.S. in 2009) 5) and expected to grow as home care/hospice expands 6) .…”