Minding the Prevention Protocol for Blood-Borne Diseases via EM Residents

Background: The emergency department (ED) is one of the high-risk places for blood-borne disease (BBD) transmission. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the rate of adherence to preventive measures (PM) against the blood-borne diseases via emergency medicine (EM) residents. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, ۸۰ emergency residents of an educational public hospital were observed with regard to abiding by the preventive measures from March to May ۲۰۱۰. Results: Cleaning blood tainted skin before phlebotomy or IV line preparation and hand washing before donning latex gloves achieved the maximum (۸۸/۱۵۰) and minimum (۰/۱۵۰) scores. The most observed barriers of PM were frequent attendance of patients (۸۵%), work load (۸۰%), and need to work rapidly (۶۸%). Conclusions: It seems that, the preventive instructions are not optimally respected by ERs possibly due to the crowded wards, high work load and the need to work rapidly

Keywords:

preventive health services , Epidemiology , Prevention and control