Article Text
Abstract
Objective To determine the incidence of sharp pointed injuries by working category and its characteristics.
Material and Methods Information of sharp pointed injuries from 2004 to 2010 was collected using EPINet, which registered: working traits, service, description of the accident, object, and anatomical part among others.
Results We recorded 181 injuries, with a mean (SD) [min-max] of: age 36 (8.5) [18–56] years; length of service in the hospital 10.6 (7.7) [0.5–27] years. The greatest proportions of injuries were in the departments of: Adolescents 31.5%, NICU 25% and Operating Room 16%. The first working shift had the largest amount of accidents with 71.7%. Moderate lesions were the most frequent with 64%, followed by superficial 21% and severe 15%. Of all the personnel, 55% didn’t use gloves, 41% used one pair and 5% used double pair of gloves; 49% was injured in the right hand and 48.6 in the left hand. The main working categories injured were: nurses 48%, medical residents 23.2%, general services 16.6%, and physicians 6.6%. The incidences were: medical residents 31.5%, nurses 13.8%, general services 11.5% and physicians 7%. Taking into account the ones with lower risk, we observed a greater ratio of incidence in the medical residents: 4.5 vs physicians and 2.3 vs nurses.
Conclusions Medical residents are in greater risk of having sharp pointed injuries followed by nurses and general services. It is necessary to identify the causes and take preventive measures as well as developing permanent epidemiological surveillance of these risks.