Use of data set to assess risk of sharps-related blood and body fluid exposure

Editor's Note

In this study from Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, researchers used a unique multicomponent administrative data set to examine the risk of percutaneous blood and body fluid exposures in the OR over a 10-year period.

Of some 333,000 surgical procedures performed, 2,113 blood and body fluid exposures were reported, for a rate of 6.3 exposures per 1,000 procedures.

Exposure rates went up with increased:

• blood loss
• number of personnel working in the surgical field
• duration of procedure.

Regression analysis showed associations were stronger for suture needle-related exposures. 

a1 Occupational and Environmental Medicine Division, Department of Community and Family Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina a2 Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences Department, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia a3 Division of Biological Safety, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina a4 Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Duke