Document 0268
 DOCN  M94A0268
 TI    Hospital administrators' tolerance of staff needlestick injuries.
 DT    9412
 AU    Treloar CJ; Malcolm JA; Sutherland DC; Berenger S; Higginbotham N;
       Clinical Immunology Unit, John Hunter Hospital, New South Wales.
 SO    Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 1994 May;15(5):307-10. Unique Identifier
       : AIDSLINE MED/94358388
 AB    OBJECTIVE: To survey hospital administrators regarding their opinions of
       an acceptable frequency of staff needlestick injury and the frequency
       that would prompt additional preventive action. DESIGN: A simple
       anonymous questionnaire sent to 960 administrators with one reminder.
       Data were collected regarding hospital size and community role, whether
       human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients had ever been
       treated, presence of an infection control practitioner, estimation of
       the proportion of staff vaccinated against hepatitis B, and opinions as
       to the acceptable frequency of needlestick accidents and the accident
       frequency, requiring additional action. SETTING: 240 public hospitals in
       New South Wales, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: The executive officers,
       directors of medical services, directors of nursing, and safety officers
       of the hospitals surveyed. RESULTS: The response rate was 50%.
       Administrators' opinions of acceptable accident frequency increased with
       hospital size and (independently of size) with experience with
       HIV-infected patients, and with the presence of a full-time infection
       control practitioner. Accident frequencies judged to require additional
       preventive action were higher than injury frequencies regarded as
       acceptable. CONCLUSIONS: The hospital administrators surveyed accept
       staff needlestick injuries as inevitable, the more so in hospitals that
       have treated known HIV-infected patients and that have full-time
       infection control practitioners.
 DE    Accidents, Occupational/*STATISTICS & NUMER DATA  *Attitude of Health
       Personnel  Comparative Study  Hospital Administrators/*PSYCHOLOGY  Human
       HIV Infections/EPIDEMIOLOGY  Infection Control Practitioners
       Needlestick Injuries/*EPIDEMIOLOGY  New South Wales/EPIDEMIOLOGY
       Questionnaires  Support, Non-U.S. Gov't  JOURNAL ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).