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The Present Situation of the Management of Skin or Mucosal Exposure to Body Substances at Hospitals in Northeastern Japan

Tomoko SATO1) and Teiko MURAI2)
1)Akita University Hospital Intensive Care Unit2)Toho University


In order to investigate the current incidences of needlestick/cut injuries, skin/mucosal exposure to body substances, as well as pre- and postexposure prophylaxis, we carried out a questionnaire-based survey among the people in charge of infection control at 466 hospitals-excluding psychiatric hospitals-of six prefectures in north-eastern Japan; 252 hospitals (54.1%) answered the questionnaire. Chi square tests were performed in accordance with the hospital size: hospitals with 301 or more beds, or "small or medium sized hospitals" with 300 or less beds. The results were as follows: The mean number of needlestick/cut injuries per 100 occupied beds per year was 2.7 (95% confidence interval, 2.4-3.1), showing that even 300 or less beds had skin or mucosal exposure to body substances. It was significant that "introduction of equipment with safety features" and "Hepatitis B vaccination at employment" had been less practiced at hospitals with 300 or less beds. Significantly less number of the hospitals with 300 or less beds maintained the systematic administration of drugs for postexposure prophylaxis.It was shown that at "small or medium sized hospitals," the mean number of needlestick/cut injuries was less but infection control strategy was incompletely practiced compared with large sized hospitals.Urgent equipment of infection control in "small or medium sized hospitals," which consist 82% of all hospitals in Japan, should be necessary because of a rather large number of medical staffs being suspected to have risk to needlestick/cut injuries.

Key words:needlestick/cut injury, skin/mucosal exposure, infection control, small and medium sized hospital

e-mail: t.sato@hos.akita-u.ac.jp

Received: September 29, 2016
Accepted: July 13, 2017

32 (5):275─281,2017

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